daily java - beginner faith

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” Yes, come,” Jesus said. (Matthew 14:27-28)

It had been years now since that night he walked on water. And now he sat in prison wondering if he were about to die.

He had such a beginner faith then. It was amazing how the Lord built that faith almost from the ground up. He was irritated that Andrew was gone when he needed him on the boat when Andrew first met Jesus. But then he met Jesus and Jesus astonished him, he overwhelmed him. He had never met anyone like him before and never had since.

It was almost as if Jesus were a faith fountain, just pumping it into Peter to get Peter to the point where he would step out of his boat in a storm – something no sailor in his right mind would ever do. His boat was his protection. To step out of it and – here was the weird thing, to expect to walk on top of the water – was madness.

But he did. And he walked. At least for a while.

But one thing for sure: He was the only one of the twelve who did. He was it, the lone faith walker. The rest were trying their best to get him to come back into the boat. They were logical. They were normal. He was not.

What he was filled with was the faith of God, faith enough to walk on the water. Even if only for a few moments, he could do it. And he did. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he could do it.

He dreamed about that at night now. Many more miraculous things he had seen since, and even done but it was that night that was the beginning of his real journey in faith and trusting Jesus.

Yes, it was short, but it was real. And he did it.

He knew that every step in the faith journey to God begins with the first one, the fist step. The throwing his net down where Jesus said fish would be was part resignation, part kind of a “what else am I going to do?” thing. The other things he did because it seemed the right thing to do at the time.

But stepping out of the boat. That was faith, real Faith with a capital F. When he did that, he
threw his life open to Jesus and gave him control.

He only lost that control once, when he denied Jesus. And oh the tears he has shed over that in his lifetime. He could do nothing about that. But he could do something about the walking and he did the right thing. He stepped out of the boat and he walked on the water.

And he remembered that act of faith almost every day of his long life since.

Now he had this last test of faith. Would he go willingly to his death? Or would he deny again the love he had for Jesus?

He knew what he had to do. It was a lot more fun and satisfying and just plain God-pleasing to walk on the water. He would keep his eyes on Jesus and do it again.