Before You Walk On Water

So everybody knows the section in John where Peter walks on water. The general underlying lesson would be a faith lesson. You will walk on water if you trust Jesus to keep you above the surface; but if you doubt, you will sink. However I wanted to surface another important issue that is involved in the scripture involving the time when Jesus walked on water.

First lets look at the text involved:

Jesus Walks on Water [John 6:16-24]

"When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading."

So when the disciples were without Jesus and the waters grew rough, they were frightened. Even when Jesus approached the boat the scripture says "they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened." They did not know who Jesus was at this point, all they knew was that this unknown figure was moving towards them. Of course they were afraid! How could they trust something they knew nothing about? Then scripture says "But he said to them, 'It is I; don't be afraid." Notice the semicolon, it is a substitute for 'therefore'. It is I, Jesus, therefore you should not fear. The disciples then "were willing to take him into the boat". It wasn't until Jesus revealed himself to them,  were they willing to trust him and take him into their boat. 

We can sort of see how this relates to our lives. Our heart is the boat. We are being lead through rough waters, and we are approached by Jesus, but it isn't until we understand who he is, do we let him into our heart. The more we get to know Jesus, the more we are willing to trust him. Usually the journey is not getting from one place to another, its a matter of trusting God to get us there. 

The remaining verse in the paragraph is  "and immediately the boat reached the shore they were heading." After Jesus received their trust, their faith, he carried them straight to where they needed to be. If they had tried to brave the storm without Jesus, they may not have ever made it to where they wanted to be. Whats even better is they had Jesus with them. Just like in our lives we need to ask the Lord to reveal himself to us. So even though we may not know what will happen in the future, or what God may ask of us in certain situations, we know God, and we trust that he is good. That is when he uses us, and takes us where we were meant to be.