I think we sometimes fail to realize how terrifying it must have been for Peter to walk out onto the Sea of Galilee towards Jesus. For one thing, it's somewhere between three and six in the morning when the disciples see Jesus walking on the water - the darkest, coldest part of the night. For another, this wasn't exactly a placid lake with a mirror smooth surface. On a good day, a fishing boat could cross the sea of Galilee in 3-4 hours. If they left around 6 PM after all of the multitude had been fed, then that means that these experienced fishermen had been fighting the winds and the waves for close to twelve hours and they weren't even all the way across. These were very rough waters that Peter climbed out onto. But that's not the end of it. However rough the sea had been after a long, hard night, it was about to get even worse. “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” (Matthew 14:30). I think we imagine that Peter's faith started to crack and wobble and so whatever power was keeping his feet from sinking below the surface had started to withdraw itself from him and that's why he started to sink. But what if Peter’s feet remained steady, as it were, but the sea tried to swallow him up anyway? After all, a boisterous wind on land might knock your hat off, but a boisterous wind on the sea is bringing the water with it. Could any of us stop from panicking when we are in the middle of the sea in the dead of night and a wave taller than we are crashes over us? It would be nice to think that after Jesus pulled Peter back up and wrapped His arm around him, that the boisterous wind and the crashing waves stopped, but that's not what happened. “And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.” (Matthew 14:32). That means for however much longer that it took for Jesus and Peter to get back to the boat, they were still walking through very rough waters. Even wrapped in the protective arms of his Savior, Peter might have had a few more towering waves plunge them both into freezing, spluttering darkness. Choosing to walk side by side with the Savior does not always lead to calm, peaceful environments, but as long as we have His arms of mercy wrapped around us, we can feel calm and peaceful in our hearts no matter how boisterous the winds are. When Jesus gently rebukes Peter for being of little faith, He is not asking why Peter doubted that he would be able to walk on the water, but rather why Peter doubted that Jesus would immediately stretch out His hand to save him as soon as it got to be too much for Him. Jesus knows the danger we are in long before we know of it ourselves. He will always save us. There can be no doubt of this. And just because our faith falters and we can no longer do impossible things like walk on water, He is going to be by our side and make up the difference and help us walk on the water, no matter how many waves crash over us.
