Sinking faith
This week is on Matthew 14:28-31:
I was on a plane recently and was sat next to a gentleman who was afraid of flying. He seemed pretty collected when the plane was ready to take off, giving his girlfriend a play by play of all of the other planes in the queue, planes landing, and so on, but when it came time for our plane to take off, he took a deep breath, crossed himself and said a silent prayer.
Sometimes when planes cross over water, they hit a downdraft and fall a bit before continuing on. I remember the first time it happened to me; I was by the window, and the plane was turning over the coast of Senegal when suddenly it seemed to drop out of the sky! I could see the rocks and water and had just enough time to start to worry about swimming when the plane stabilized and continued on smoothly.
Well, sure enough, the plane hit a downdraft during this recent flight, just as it was heading out to sea. The man began to scream and moan and grabbed onto me and his girlfriend in terror. "OHhhhhhhh!" It was about five seconds of the plane dropping, seemingly out of control. He turned to me afterwards as if he was looking for an explanation, and I was like "You prayed, didn't you?"
Not five minutes earlier, he was calm and collected, trusting God for his protection, yet at the first heavy bit of turbulence it went all out the window. I couldn't figure out how his faith changed so quickly, but then thought of plenty of times I'd been the same way, and even of these verses where Peter experienced the same thing.
Peter was a confident enthusiastic believer. Jesus called him out onto the water, and at first he was able to walk on it, but as soon as he hit some turbulence from the wind, everything began to sink. Jesus saves him, but asks him why he doubted. He calls his faith "little."
Why do we doubt? Why do we have little faith? We have so little control over our emotions sometimes that we get carried away by them. Faith is not the strongest guy in the room at that point. And sometimes our minds are too small to think of how God will deliver on a promise, but still big enough that they can attack our faith with scenarios of how things will go horribly wrong. Our faith is little then too.
How do we make our faith bigger? It's the same way we make ourselves stronger: We pick things up that are almost too heavy, and we move them around. Peter went through a bunch of trials during the rest of his life, and ended up strong enough that he willingly let himself be crucified, knowing that God had only good for him afterwards. His faith was not just big enough for the wind, but for facing death and pain.
So be thankful for small trials and things you live through which test your faith. I can bet that the guy who panicked on that plane won't be as nervous next time the plane hits turbulence because he knows his prayers were answered and that everything turned out okay. Even the apostle Peter failed a test or two, so don't be discouraged if you don't win every time.
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
I was on a plane recently and was sat next to a gentleman who was afraid of flying. He seemed pretty collected when the plane was ready to take off, giving his girlfriend a play by play of all of the other planes in the queue, planes landing, and so on, but when it came time for our plane to take off, he took a deep breath, crossed himself and said a silent prayer.
Sometimes when planes cross over water, they hit a downdraft and fall a bit before continuing on. I remember the first time it happened to me; I was by the window, and the plane was turning over the coast of Senegal when suddenly it seemed to drop out of the sky! I could see the rocks and water and had just enough time to start to worry about swimming when the plane stabilized and continued on smoothly.
Well, sure enough, the plane hit a downdraft during this recent flight, just as it was heading out to sea. The man began to scream and moan and grabbed onto me and his girlfriend in terror. "OHhhhhhhh!" It was about five seconds of the plane dropping, seemingly out of control. He turned to me afterwards as if he was looking for an explanation, and I was like "You prayed, didn't you?"
Not five minutes earlier, he was calm and collected, trusting God for his protection, yet at the first heavy bit of turbulence it went all out the window. I couldn't figure out how his faith changed so quickly, but then thought of plenty of times I'd been the same way, and even of these verses where Peter experienced the same thing.
Peter was a confident enthusiastic believer. Jesus called him out onto the water, and at first he was able to walk on it, but as soon as he hit some turbulence from the wind, everything began to sink. Jesus saves him, but asks him why he doubted. He calls his faith "little."
Why do we doubt? Why do we have little faith? We have so little control over our emotions sometimes that we get carried away by them. Faith is not the strongest guy in the room at that point. And sometimes our minds are too small to think of how God will deliver on a promise, but still big enough that they can attack our faith with scenarios of how things will go horribly wrong. Our faith is little then too.
How do we make our faith bigger? It's the same way we make ourselves stronger: We pick things up that are almost too heavy, and we move them around. Peter went through a bunch of trials during the rest of his life, and ended up strong enough that he willingly let himself be crucified, knowing that God had only good for him afterwards. His faith was not just big enough for the wind, but for facing death and pain.
So be thankful for small trials and things you live through which test your faith. I can bet that the guy who panicked on that plane won't be as nervous next time the plane hits turbulence because he knows his prayers were answered and that everything turned out okay. Even the apostle Peter failed a test or two, so don't be discouraged if you don't win every time.
Comments
Post a Comment