“Peter 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 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?” Matt 14:28-31
Everywhere I turn, in everything I read, I’m hearing the Lord tell me to keep my eyes on Him. To make looking at Him the way I live, moment to moment. I’m learning this gaze…trying to learn it…praying to learn it.
Yet too many times lately the wind has been so strong and the water has been choppy, and I have looked at them, and become afraid, and begun to sink into the dangerous depths of anxiety.
This looking is an act of faith; a choice.
I read about Abraham, in Genesis 15, who believed God’s promise to make His offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky, even though he had no son, and it was counted to him as righteousness (v.6).
What will I look at? My circumstances? My reasoning? Or will I look at the one who created me? The one who knows the end from the beginning?
And yet there is more. Not only must I be careful where I look, but to whom I listen.
I read about Nehemiah and the builders and the voices that comprised their “winds”of adversity. The enemy of my soul whispers lies. That I am feeble…that I will only, always, ever fail. (Nehemiah 4:2-3)
It’s not just the circumstances, but the lies of the deceiver…arrows aimed at my weakest spots on my weakest days.
To my unknowns he whispers worst case scenarios and if I listen, suddenly , I’m not just dealing with the wind and the waves that are actually there, but with wind and waves that do not exist and may never come my way… “what ifs” and worries.
I must not look at the wind and the waves, I must not listen to the mockery of the enemy.
I must only LOOK UNTO JESUS.
“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)
I look to Him in faith, look to Him for faith, and all of my looking is with the faith He provides.
And that, my friend, is grace. All grace.
Amy W. (gueston66books)
From the archives. Originally published January 14, 2013.
Sixty-six books in a year 