Matthew 14:28-31
‘Peter responded and said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me! ”Immediately Jesus reached out with His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
What a great story. I see Peter and Jesus as adventurous. Peter sees Jesus walking on the water and thinks, “That looks fun” and he asks Jesus if he could join Him. Jesus allows it and Peter gets out on the water.
It’s not often we see this in scripture. Not that it didn’t happen. There’s not enough room for everything to be in the bible. Here we see it, fun and spontaneity. It surfaces in all of us from time to time.
Do we seize it when it arrises? Some of us are no longer young and our bodies won’t comply. So we have to let some circumstances go by.
Part of this I see as being youthful. Inwardly I feel like I’m 30 years old. I often gravitate towards the young. I’m presently serving in the middle school ministry. I’m new at it, so I can’t say that it’s a fit right now, but I hope it will be.
I think it’s great that Jesus allowed Peter to come to Him on the water. It wasn’t necessary. Jesus joined Peter in being excited to do this. I see this as God understanding our need to have fun. More than that He created this in us. So, He understands it far better than we do.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I see a couple meanings to this. As we honor God He rewards us with blessings. Another meaning was explained to me later on. As we delight ourselves in Him He gives us new desires. Part of this comes from the new birth. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” And I Corinthians 2:16 says, ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.’
God is life and creativity. When we see Him in creation it’s so amazing. Some of the animals make us smile when we see them. Life and His creation are to be enjoyed. Celebrate that part of Him.
Lord, thank You for including the story of Peter walking on the water. Help us to have that adventurous spirit.