Have you ever felt that the Apostle Peter catches more flack from us Christians than anyone else in the Bible? I mean every time I turn around some preacher, or author–or me, is pointing out his shortcomings. We’re in good company, the Lord did too. I suspect He picked the disciples as much for their weaknesses as their strengths…making sure we could look at them and say, “Hey…those guys weren’t so different than me, maybe I could…”

But that’s where I run into trouble, I’m both too much like Peter and not nearly his equal. In fact, I will tell you honestly that I wish some of his goads were my goads. That’s not to say that we don’t have goads in common–I’ve had my fair share of roosters crowing at me, and more than once the Lord has sat me down and asked, “Mike, do you really love me?” Those are familiar goads, all too familiar. But those goads were used to get Peter moving again; he’s just as well known for some other things…
“If I do not wash you, you have no share with me”, Jesus explains when Peter refuses a foot bath that is truly a lesson in humility. “Put your sword into its sheath“, the Master chides before restoring a severed ear to its owner’s face. “Get behind me, Satan“, our Lord admonishes when Peter decides to rewrite the Father’s plan for salvation.
In other words, slow down, back up and shut up! And you’re probably thinking, “Really, Mike…you want some of that?” Well, no…but I do want some of what led to that. The easiest way to explain what I’m talking about is to look at my favorite Peter story…
And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:25-31 ESV
Okay, I realize that Peter gets rebuked again…”O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” But I can’t help thinking that the other eleven guys…the ones still in the boat…they had to have been saying to themselves, “Dude! Peter just walked on water!!! ” Or, you know, whatever the 1st century version of that would be. There are two people in all of history who have walked on water…Jesus, the Lord and Master of all creation, and a guy named Peter. Yeah, I want some of whatever it is that gets you some of that. The part of Peter that got him all those rebukes also earned this…
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:18-19 ESV

Trust me, we could all use some of that. Instead, I’m like a colorblind man sitting at a traffic light, frozen in place as the green light cycles by over and over again, too afraid to step on gas peddle because…‘what if this isn’t the right time? I see other cars…what if one of them goes when I go? What if there’s a cop and I get a ticket? What if…what if…what if…?’

All three lights could be flashing green, blaring out, “GO NOW!” and yet I’d still be sitting there, paralyzed with indecision. Now I’m not saying we should just stomp on the gas every time we get a whim. Proceeding without the Lord’s leading or blessing is a bad plan…baaaad plan! We just read about some of the goads Peter took when he did that. But when he looked beyond the darkness and the storm, when he cried out, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you.…”, that’s leaning forward in your yoke. Peter wasn’t waiting to be called, he was pleading to be called.
How does this work in real life? I’ll give you an example…
My wife, Laurie, came to me one day and said, “I think I’m supposed to lead a team to Asia.”
“Hmm”, I responded. This was actually quite a step up support wise over the first time she’d broached the subject of going to Asia. That had actually happened a few years earlier, when she’d joined her sister’s church on a mission trip. When we’d had that first conversation I’d been quick to point out what I thought should be obvious to anyone, “Really…you don’t speak a word of their language, but you’re going to go convince a bunch of atheists they need Jesus even though they’ve never even heard His name before?” Skepticism and sarcasm are two of my non-spiritual gifts, but I have others. To Laurie’s credit, in both cases, she listened to the Lord’s leading instead of my nay-saying, and when He called out, “Come”, she jumped in the water.
This time, before I knew it, there were eight other ‘Peters’ right there beside her…her team–His team! The Lord led and they followed. I watched from the safety of the boat while they dealt with obstacle after obstacle–wave after wave crashed against them, trying to knock them off course. Passport and visa issues, hotel and train reservations, coordination between people and agencies a half a world away…nothing worked, then suddenly, miraculously it would (not just the word, the real thing). And the team marched on–until suddenly, sadly, they ‘saw the wind’.
The airline tickets were $900 more than expected–apiece! That put them way over what they’d raised for the trip. Worse, they were out of time to visit any more churches or cram in another yard sale or fund raiser; and besides, everyone had already been more than generous. Altogether they were $13,000 short of what was needed. So, despite all the incredible things that had been happening, the enormity of the number was just too much for their faith to bear. They began to sink.
The other Apostles must have been astonished when they saw Peter walking on the water, but I have to think they were just as surprised when he began to flounder. After all, he didn’t start to go under the second he stepped out of the boat…nope, he hit the water and kept on steppin’! He ‘walked on the water and came to Jesus‘, we know he got within arm’s length because the Lord reached out and took hold of him. So when they heard Jesus asked Peter, “Why did you doubt?”, I’m guessing his brethren were already wondering the same thing–from the safety of the boat of course.
I shook my head at my doubting wife and her half submerged companions, stood up in the prow of the boat and yelled out, “Just put your eyes back on Jesus and you’ll be fine.” I’m not sure it was really me they listened to…more likely it was the Holy Spirit, but they did just that. They took their eyes off their problem and lifted them up to the Solution, crying out, “Lord save us”.

At that point the team and all their supporters devoted themselves to fervent prayer, asking the Lord to make a way. Within a few days the airline ticket prices were cut nearly in half. Just like that the team went from being thousands of dollars over budget to thousands under. God is faithful…ever faithful. They called it a ‘fish and loaves’ moment. That became one of their main themes throughout the trip…whenever it seemed they would come up short of something, the Lord would start doing His multiplication magic and their baskets would start overflowing. Miracle after miracle happened on that trip, and the trips that followed. Believers sought and found, souls saved, brothers and sisters in Christ born-again from staunch atheists who become mighty servants of God. I won’t detail all the Lord’s supernatural activities that brought these things to pass, this is a long post as it is, but I will throw in one more for my fellow skeptics out there…you know who you are, the ones who heard about the airline tickets and couldn’t help but think, ‘Wow, that was lucky.‘
The event I’m about to share isn’t even in the top ten things God put His personal signature on during the Asia missions, at least as far as significance or impact goes. But on the undeniable and cool side of things, I think it’s my favorite.
The team found themselves lost in the middle of a city of 8,000,000 people–yes, those are the correct number of zeroes. Not only lost, but not sure if they were anywhere near where they needed to be, and without a clue of how to get found. To complicate matters they were on a tight schedule to meet some people, and those people could get into serious trouble for even associating with ‘western missionaries’. That meant even asking someone for directions to where they were going would be taking a risk–unfortunately they finally reached the point where they had no other option. Desperate, they looked around at the throng of people going by and picked a ‘nice looking’ woman to stop and ask for help. She was nice, but she spoke no English and they had no interpreter. Still they cautiously showed her the paper they’d been given to find the place–they couldn’t read it, but she could. Then she pulled out her phone and called her boss–the owner of the place they were trying to find! He spoke English and the woman was on her way to work, so after they hung up, she guided them right where they needed to go–just like God planned it. Did you catch the part about there being eight million other people they could have picked? Do the math…God is AWESOME, MIGHTY….and ACTIVE!
I cannot tell you how blessed I was to see and hear about the wondrous things that happened on those mission trips. But I don’t kid myself, my joy couldn’t have been anywhere near that of those who lived it…who braved a walk across the ocean to partner with the Lord. My advice to myself, and anyone else who tends to hold back when faced with even the tiniest uncertainty…ignore the wind and the waves…set you eyes on Christ, and Him alone…then Get Out of the Boat…GO NOW!
May the Lord’s call in your life be loud, clear and irresistible,
Mike
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