As I was reading this morning in Matthew, I came to one of my favorite passages... Jesus walking on the water. There is so much for us in this account, but the one thing that has continued to echo in my mind this morning is that not only was Peter actually walking on the water TO GO TO JESUS, but when he SAW the wind boisterous, that was when he began to sink. Of course, he cried out to Jesus for help, and Jesus of course, rescued him, but not without the loving rebuke 'O ye of little faith, why did you doubt?'
I do not believe it can be stressed enough that as long as Peter's full attention was on Jesus, he walked on the water. It was only when his attention was drawn away, at least in part, from Jesus to the 'boisterous' wind. (the word boisterous here means 'forcible, powerful, strong', that he began to sink.
So, here we have Peter, having made the commitment to go to Jesus, walking on water, and not just on water, but on stormy seas, no longer focused on Jesus, but on the turmoil around him. He had not forgotten Jesus was there, but this moment, he was regarding the storm that was engulfing him.
When Jesus asked him, 'why did you doubt?', the word He used was 'distazo', meaning 'duplicate; mentally waver in opinion', and He used it in direct correlation with faith, or the lack thereof. In essence, He was asking him 'why were you of two opinions?' In Hebrews, the exhortation to be single minded is again referenced: "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised;" (Heb 10:23); and again in James "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (Jas 1:6-8). The double minded in this verse comes from the same root word 'distazo' that Jesus used when addressing Peter's doubt.
The degree of distraction does not seem to matter.... when it says Peter "saw" the wind boisterous, that comes from the Greek word "blepo" - A primary verb; to look at (literally or figuratively): - behold, beware, look (on, to), perceive. It does not even hint that Peter was obsessed with the distraction, but simply that he looked at it, creating a wavering opinion. He had not forgotten Jesus was there, waiting for him, but was 'looking at' both Jesus and the storm, and it crippled his faith.
So, what are we 'looking at'? The power of the storm? Jesus? Both? My prayer, for myself, as well as all believers, is that we will only see the One Who has the power over the waves and storm, and not the storm itself, and that our faith will be strong and when we ask, we will ask with a single heart, unwavering, knowing that He is indeed faithful Who has promised, and, even more so as the storms around us grow more violent in these last days.
