Why doubt ? (3)

"Seeing that the wind was strong, [Peter] was afraid ; And when he began to break in, he cried out : O Lord, save me ! Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, seized him, and said to him : Man of little faith, why did you doubt ? When they got into the boat, the wind fell." Matthew 14. 30-32

That night, the boat barely advanced, beaten by the waves and repelled by a contrary wind. And between three and six o'clock in the morning, in this sinister atmosphere, the disciples see someone appear walking on the water. The one they take for a ghost and whose appearance makes them scream with fear, it is Jesus who approaches them and reassures them : "Courage ! it's me, do not be afraid !" (v. 27).

Peter, who thinks he recognizes the voice of the Lord, says to him in the energy of his faith : "Lord, if it is you, command me to go to you on the waters". How admirable is the audacity of Peter's request, and courageous, that he walks by faith on the water! As long as he stares at Jesus, he does the impossible, the waves are under his feet. But suddenly, he worries about the strength of the wind that has not weakened and begins to sink. Why ? The Lord, who has just seized him by the hand to prevent him from drowning, puts the diagnosis in the form of a single question : "Man of little faith, why did you doubt ?" The faith of Peter, remarkable in early, suddenly weakened. His human appreciation of the situation was stronger than his faith. Rather than continuing to look at Jesus, he hears the wind, sees the waves and cries for help. Fear settled in his mind as quickly as his energy pushed him to ask Jesus to order him to join him on the water.

Someone will be able to say with assurance : "Why doubt ? Where Jesus is present, the reasons for doubting disappear !" But let us honestly admit that such insurance is not easy to achieve in practice. We see, for example, so many people who pass through humanly insurmountable trials, so many storms among Christians, so few results of faith in the lives of some Christians or in ours, so many people who live well without worry about the Lord ... And now there is doubt in our minds.

The Lord Jesus remains with us, who is "the same, yesterday today and forever". Let us renew our trust and set eyes on him, "the leader of faith and the one who leads to fulfillment" (Heb 12. 2).

Source (Pleasing the Lord)