PhilKosba
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« Reply #9 on: February 29, 2004, 05:24:18 AM » |
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Matthew 14:28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
There are several lessons to be learned from this instance (passage).
Here, it is written, Peter beginning to sink; means, Peter ‘began’ to sink. If you put anything heavy in water, it just sinks, right? This shows about his faith in the Lord Jesus which is confirmed by the Lord's asking Peter, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
If you carefully read, you will notice Peter’s asking, in verse 28, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come”. Here Peter’s “look” was on the Lord Jesus. And the Lord told him to “Come”. This word from the Lord gave Peter FAITH to walk on water, and he walked!
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17)
But, soon Peter changed his look from the Lord Jesus to “the wind boisterous”. So, he lost his vision, he was afraid, and he began to sink; first in his faith, then in water.
Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish:” (Prov. 29:18)
A born again child of God is not supposed to look at the circumstances around him and live, but look at Jesus.
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” (Heb. 12:2)
When tests and trials come, many children of God look at their circumstance and say, ‘oh, its impossible’, ‘I am tired’, ‘I am sick and will die’, etc. We are not supposed to say so.
“every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” (Mat. 18:16) We have God’s Word saying “all things are possible with God”, we are "healed by His stripes”, etc. If we join with the God’s Promises, we bring life, blessings, healing, into our lives. But if we join with Satan’s negative words, we bring curses, sickness, death, etc. The choice is ours! So, mind your words!!
The Lord Jesus was not shouting at Peter for his lack of faith (by looking into the circumstances), but was comforting him, like a dad or mom telling a small kid, Oh dear, why did you get afraid? We need to be loving and caring.
This instance (and Mark 4:41) happened also for a fulfillment of a prophecy about the Lord Jesus in Psalm 107:29- “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.”
And this helped the disciples in the boat to understand the Lord more as 'the Son of God' and helped them worship Him.
If you read again and gain, you get more Scriptural revelations from the Word.
(attributes to verses added.)
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