Who Did Peter Lose Faith In?

My favorite scripture passage of all time is Matthew 14: 22-33 where Peter walks on water! The passage has all you could ask for in a dramatic story: the storm and the fear and the feeling of being out of control. Then the disciples see what they think could be a ghost and they really panic. All, that is, except Peter. When Jesus announces Himself, Peter asks to go to Him on the water. Jesus invites him to do just that. But as Peter begins to walk across the water he is afraid and begins to sink until he reaches out to Jesus and asks to be saved. As Jesus reaches out to pull him up, Jesus questions his doubt and tells him he has such little faith.

That was always where I was lost. After all, Peter was the only one to truly believe it was indeed Jesus walking towards him. Peter believes that with Jesus, he too can even walk on the water. Already he showed so much more faith than the rest of the disciples. I admit, I always kind of thought of myself like Peter in many ways. He was always ready to say he wasn’t good enough; he was somewhat crude and undisciplined; and then he would throw himself in too far too fast. So, needless to say I took Jesus’ words personally. But, I have so much faith in You, I would pray. It was a challenging reading for sure.

Then it all became clear to me. Peter never did lose faith in Jesus. He lost faith in himself. He suddenly looked down at his feet and saw that he was standing and walking on water and that was not something he could do. So he got scared. He lost faith in his human abilities and began to sink. However, his faith got him on the water in the first place and as he began to sink, his faith was immediately there… Jesus both could and would save him. Now it all made sense to me.

I think most of us believe in God and we know of His greatness and power and ability to do anything. So, we pray and we ask for strength to do His will. But, then we falter. We lose sight of the most important fact… it is never about us. It is about God working through us. So when we doubt we need to ask is it God or ourselves we doubting? I know there are many times in my life that I have done something I never thought I could. But, with God there is truly nothing I cannot do. So why am I surprised? The question we need to ask is whether we are choosing to do God’s will. If we are, then He will be there and help us do whatever it is. It may not be our way, or in our time, but we will be able to do it.