Waves of Doubt, or Strength? - 4/12/06

Matthew 14:29-31, "And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught Peter. Jesus said, 'Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?'"

Why did YOU doubt? Why did I doubt? How many different ways does God have to demonstrate His power and faithfulness before we can rely on Him? It's sad to think, but I don't know that I would have been any more successful than Peter was in this situation. Try to imagine it. A raging sea. Dark skies. Giant waves crashing all around you - and you're walking AWAY from the boat!

What Peter failed to focus on though, as any one of us could have, is what he was walking toward. The only begotten son of the Most High God was standing right there, ON the water. His presence was safer than the man-made boat Peter was walking away from.

I like the words of the song "Borrow Mine" by Bebo Norman describing this situation - and how we can approach similar situations in life.

Take my love
when all you can see
is the raging sea all around us
And don't give up
Because I'm not letting go
and the God we know will not fail us
We'll lay it all down as we call out
Sweet Savior, help our unbelief

The scripture says that if you ask anything in Jesus' name and do not doubt, it is yours. Doubt undermines our faith and tells God, "I don't really believe you can do this."
Doubt and faith - a constant struggle for us. Another great song, "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns emphasizes this idea,

Oh what I would do to have
the kind of faith it takes to come out of the boat and then
on to the crashing waves
To step out of my comofort zone
into the realm of the unkown where Jesus is
and He's holding out His hand

You can analyze Peter's example to see how to combat doubt & fear. Why did Peter doubt? Read the scripture above, "...he saw the wind and waves, he became afraid and began to sink."

Peter let what he saw scare him away from what he knew. That's how the enemy prevents us from praying dynamically with the faith moves mountains. He knew Jesus could save him and cause him to walk on water. After all, He was standing there to prove it. But Peter focused on something else, letting those distractions steer his faith away from Jesus.

So that's how we can strengthen our own faith and prevent doubt and fear. Focus on Jesus. Remind yourself of previous times Jesus answered your prayers. Use answered prayers to ediy your faith, and quote scripture, the word of God that's referred to as the "sword." You can stab and cut at doubt with the word of God. You can use a model similar to this one: Jesus, you said that ________, so I believe you will do ________ here and now.

It's not easy. Melissa and I are reading the book Left To Tell by Immacullée Ilibagiza, a Rwandan survivor of genocide and a fellow believer. Her prayers and God's protection are the only things that kept her alive while over one million of her people were butchered in one of Africa's smallest countries. In one instance, she was praying against being discovered in her hiding place while thoughts of doubt and fear flooded her mind. She had an intense battle to fight, then a vision of Jesus (one of several) appeared to her and told her to have faith, noting that it wouldn't be easy. If it were easy to have enough faith to move mountains, there wouldn't be any still standing!

So, she chose to be strong and trust His word, and pray - relying completely on Him. Now, she's left to tell her story due to His protection that she prayed for in faith. Just as thousands of others have throughout history.

So, why do you doubt? Sure, you may drown at any moment, but Jesus Christ is with you...