Take a Step

Take a step

“Ponder the path of your feet,

then all your ways will be sure.”

—Prov. 4:26

Do you remember your first step? Probably not, but I would bet that your parents do. I remember when my daughter, Grace was learning to walk. My wife and I would sit on the floor just a few feet away from each other and have her stumble between us. She giggled and laughed the whole time and, once she got to one parent, couldn't wait to be turned around and sent back to the other one. She loved it and we would be entertained for hours. I wonder if God is as amused, as He sees us stumbling and fumbling around, trying to get from one place to the next place He wants us to get to.

There is one way we are quite different than our children when they are learning to walk. They trust us. As far as I know, there has never been a toddler that said, "I don't know guys. Do these legs really work like that? This balance thing, can we go over that again? Now, you say you will catch me if I start to fall. Do you have any experience doing that sort of thing or are you just winging it."

Remember the story of Jesus walking on water when He invited Peter to join him (Matt. 14:22ff)? I’m sure I would be like Peter if I ever got out of the boat onto the water. Peter heard the thunder, saw the lightening, saw the waves, and realized he was a human—and humans don’t walk on water. Peter took his eyes off of Jesus. He couldn't believe he was actually walking on water; and at that point, he no longer was able to do so. He began to sink. What's the lesson here for us?

It isn't hard to imagine what Peter was thinking. "Wait a minute, what am I doing? I don't know how to walk on water. I have never done this before. Maybe I should take it slow, start with a mud puddle or a shallow spot near the shore. I am sure Jesus meant something else. He wouldn't expect this of me. Of course, He can walk on water, He's Jesus. The waves, the wind, it was all pretty noisy; I probably didn't hear it right. I need to stop being so impulsive."

All Peter needed to do was to keep his eyes on Jesus. Trust Jesus. But, don't we make the same mistake? We need to keep our eyes on Him in order for us to be able to keep moving in the right direction. We are thinking, reasoning adults; but, we must come to Christ like one of these little ones, trusting, excited, ready to have a good time. Instead, like Peter, we may be hesitant to even get out of the boats; and then, even if we do, we lose our focus almost immediately. We begin to trust in our own logic, or knowledge, or skill, or lack thereof.

Whenever we put our attention on anything other than Him, we will begin to sink, we will begin to fail. If we try to think too far ahead of that, we will end up like Peter, talking ourselves out of doing what we have been told to do. Jesus gave Peter one instruction, "Come." He invites us to do the same. Come. Trust me. Just come. Take a step.