And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matthew 14:31
Peter can get so many other names, but I think alikuwa Mjuaji sanaa!
Peter was a very confident man. Very confident! If confidence alone could save a person, Peter would have been just fine. The problem was that Peter was often more confident in himself than he was in God.
In Matthew 14, Peter sees Jesus walking on the water. He says, “Lord, if it is You, tell me to come to You.” Jesus says, “Come.” Peter steps out of the boat and starts walking on the water. Imagine Peter! He is probably thinking, “Look at me! I am walking on water!” The moment He stopped focusing on His Enabler, mark this child of God, that is when he started sinking.
Suddenly, the man who was walking on water starts sinking in the water. Peter cries, “Lord, save me!” Jesus reaches out His hand and catches him. Peter started with, “I can do this,” and ended with, “Jesus, save me!” And maybe that was the lesson. Peter needed to learn that he could not depend on his own confidence. He needed to depend on Jesus.
Peter does it again in Matthew 16. Jesus tells the disciples that He must suffer and die. Peter takes Jesus aside and tells Him, in simple words, “No, Lord. That will not happen to You.” Peter was now trying to tell Jesus what God’s plan should be! Jesus had to correct him strongly and said, “Get behind me, Satan.”
Peter thought he knew better. But Peter did not understand God’s plan. He was confident in what he knew, but what he knew was not enough.
Then we come to John 13:37, where Peter tells Jesus, “Lord, why cannot I follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter was ready to die for Jesus. At least, Peter thought he was.
Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself. Jesus told him that before the rooster crowed, Peter would deny Him three times.
Then Jesus is arrested.
The pressure comes.
Someone asks Peter if he knows Jesus. Peter says no. Someone asks again. Peter says no again. A third person says, “Surely you are one of them.” Peter denies Jesus for the third time.
Then the rooster crows.
Peter remembers what Jesus told him.
The man who said, “I will die for You,” could not even admit that he knew Jesus.
And honestly, Peter is funny until we realize how much Peter looks like us.
- How many times have we told ourselves, “This time I will be better”?
- How many times have we said, “I will never do that again”?
How many times have we promised God that we would pray more, trust more, worry less, forgive quicker, control our anger, stop going back to the same thing, and finally change?
Then life gives us another test, and suddenly we are back in the same place. We make promises when we feel strong, but when pressure comes, we discover that we are not as strong as we thought.
That is why Peter’s story is so important. Peter shows us that we cannot build our faith on ourselves. We cannot keep saying, “I know what I will do.” We need to learn to say, “Lord, help me.”
We cannot keep saying, “I will never fail again.” We need to say, “Lord, when I am weak, hold me.”
We cannot keep saying, “I know exactly how this will work out.” We need to say, “Lord, I do not know, but I trust You.” Peter had to learn that faith is not confidence in Peter. Faith is confidence in Jesus. And the beautiful thing is that Peter’s story did not end with his failure. After Jesus rose from the dead, He met Peter again. In John 21, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love Me?”
Three times Peter had denied Jesus. Now three times Jesus gave Peter a chance to say that he loved Him. Jesus did not throw Peter away. Jesus restored Peter.
Peter had failed, but Jesus was not finished with him. And maybe that is where some of us are today.We have promised ourselves enough. We have said, “This time I will do better,” enough times.
Maybe what God wants from us now is not another promise. Maybe He wants surrender.
“Lord, I surrender everything I think I know. I surrender my plans. I surrender my strength. I surrender my understanding. I surrender my fears. I surrender my failures. I surrender even the promises I keep making to myself. I cannot promise that I will never fail again, but I can trust You to help me when I fail. I cannot control everything, but I can trust You with everything. I cannot see the whole road, but I can trust the One who can.
Peter stepped out of the boat thinking he could walk on water, but he learned that the miracle was never really about Peter’s strength. It was about Jesus’ hand.
- Peter’s confidence failed him.
- Peter’s promises failed him.
- Peter’s understanding failed him.
- Even Peter’s courage failed him.
- But Jesus never failed Peter.
So today, let us stop putting all our confidence in ourselves. Let us stop making promises we cannot keep. Let us stop believing that we have to have everything figured out.
Let us simply surrender.
“Lord, I trust You. I surrender all that I claim to know. I surrender all that I cannot control. I surrender all that I have tried to fix. I place my life in Your hands.
Because I know, in many instances, just like Peter, I am always sure that when I begin to sink, Jesus is still there to reach out His hand and catch me.” Don’t allow yourself to sink in, Jesus is right there with you, with His outstretched arms. Allow him to help. Stop sinking In!!
