“But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?””
-Matthew 14:30-31 NASB1995
I was reading this passage this morning and it caught me how noteworthy it was. Here’s Peter, stepping out in faith, and he gets scared and he begins to sink. As he starts to sink he cries out, “Lord, save me!” And here is what is significant; Jesus IMMEDIATELY stretches out His hand to Peter and takes hold of Him. Jesus didn’t wait. He didn’t give Peter some 5 step plan to get himself back out of the water. He didn’t call on any angels to come rescue Peter for him. He immediately stretched out His hand and took hold of Peter so that he would not drown.
How many times have I started to sink and not immediately reached out to the One waiting for me to reach my hands out to Him? How many times have I felt like I was drowning in the storms in my life? How many times have I swallowed water rather than reach out to the One who is waiting to take my hand and pull me up out of the water? We don’t have to wait until we are drowning to reach out to God. He wants us to trust Him, that in Him, we can walk on water. But even when we start to doubt and sink, He is still right there, ready to take our hand and pull us back up. There’s no reason for us to wait to reach out to Him.
Now, He may ask us why we doubted, just like He asked Peter. But like Peter, He isn’t going to ask us while we are drowning. Only after He has taken our hand and pulled us to safety. That is when He gently reminds us that we don’t need to doubt Him, for He is always there, waiting for us to reach out and take His hand.
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