06/18/2025
Do you follow Jesus without a second thought? Do you give your faith free and unquestioned rein to rule your life? These are the questions that face us all and the crux of my morning contemplation today. Peter walked on water by faith, but he sank into the roiling sea out of doubt. I have personally allowed doubt to steal my victory on more than one occasion... have you experienced this in your walk with Jesus?
“He said, "Come. "So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"”
Matthew 14:29-31 ESV
Letting our minds take command of that place where only faith should rule results in our downfall. Questioning God by applying our physical ability and human logic over His will, and our walk with him, leads us back to leaning into our own will, what makes sense to us, and takes us away from the unbounded miracles which are God’s. Bu depending on our own devices we are plucking ourselves from the hand of our Father and are cast by our doubt into the sea of sin and fear once more.
Pastor Oswald Chamber wrote about this in my morning devotional reading today. He spoke of being reckless in our faith and immediately following God's calling, but also of the importance of staying fixed in on His voice. Let's read his words...
"If you debate for a second when God has spoken, it is all up. Never begin to say - "Well, I wonder if He did speak?" Be reckless immediately, fling it all out on Him.... It is only by abandon that you recognize Him. You will only realize His voice more dearly by recklessness." - Oswald Chambers
I was squirrel hunting on my grandfather's farm in North Carolina. I had entered the woods and taken a seat near some hickory trees where I leaned back against a tree to watch. Shortly I saw not one but two squirrels moving in the treetops. I dispatched them and then moved deeper into the woods with dinner safely stored in my coat pocket. I walked and sat several times, but didn't harvest any more squirrels. Finally, I decided to return home and prepare my offering for my grandmother to cook.
When I turned toward home, I took one ridge and then another as I instinctively retraced my path through the forest. I was thinking about how proud my family would be of me when I presented my squirrels for dinner when I suddenly found that I was at a place where two ridge lines branched off before me and doubted my memory. My inclination was to follow the ridge to the north, but as I applied my own logic to the situation, I convinced myself to go south.
After many minutes of walking, I realized I had made a mistake and that not only had I chosen the wrong ridge, but that I was now hopelessly lost. I wanted to panic, but I recalled a lesson my father had taught me when I was young and applying it I decided to follow a small creek which flowed down from the hills. My dad had told me that water would eventually lead me to civilization and sure enough, I came to a road and a farmhouse, where I called my uncle on the telephone and asked him to come get me. I was back in the world I knew.
Our faith, and the calling of God, is a great deal like this. We are called into the woods and provided with bounty, but in our humanity we eventually decide to take control of the situation ourselves. Sometimes it is out of pride, and at other times it might be for one of a myriad of other human frailties, such as fear that might lead us astray. But, when we apply our logic and physical nature to an event that God has designed, we find ourselves separated from Him... lost. At this point our instinct is to continue on in the physical world in which we have entrusted ourselves, and in the end, we are back to where we began before God called us.
Peter leapt from the boat and began to walk on the water towards Jesus. He was fully supported by his faith in the Lord, but somewhere between the boat and the hand of Christ, he applied the physical laws of nature to a spiritual event and began to sink into the waves. His fear undid him, and he went from walking on water to drowning in the sea… all in the blink of an eye. In Peter's case, he called out to Jesus and was rescued... but then he was chided for abandoning his faith, and doubting.
“Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?””
Matthew 14:31 ESV
Has this happened in your life? Have you been on your way to healing someone, being successful in delivering the gospel, or some other glorious heavenly event, and lost your way by leaning on your own human reasoning? Did you say to yourself, "How is this possible?" Have you plucked the situation from the hand of God and placed it right back into your old physical world? I believe that we have all done this at some point... it is part and parcel of our growth and education in faith. It is a lesson in learning to trust God in all things with reckless and unwavering faith.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for calling me to do your heavenly work, and thank you for giving me the faith to follow the path you have laid out before me. Lord, give me spiritual blinkers to the world as I follow you always. Never let me be distracted by what I was once taught to be the absolute laws governing my physical world and in so doing lose sight of the spiritual world you have placed me in. Holy Father, let Jesus lead me and let my eyes remain focused on Him at all times. Keep my vision fixed on what lies ahead and never let a single doubt cause me to look back at the world which I have left behind. You are great beyond all understanding, and you are mightier than all creation. Into your hands I commend myself, and I trust in your ability to provide for my every physical and spiritual need. Help me Father as I worship you in Spirit and Truth without leaning on my own understanding… but trusting in yours and yours alone. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God in whom my belief and faith are firmly grounded. Holy are you whose will determines my way, and my Heavenly Father whose every desire I recklessly follow without question or doubt.
Amen
“Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."”
Luke 9:62 ESV
Definition of the word blinkers…
The blinders on a horse's harness are called blinkers. They are also sometimes referred to as blinders, blinds, or winkers, according to Wikipedia. These pieces of tack are designed to limit a horse's field of vision, typically blocking their view to the sides and rear. – AI
Link to the “Reckless Love” song by Cory Asbury:
https://youtu.be/Sc6SSHuZvQE?si=26myw0wHBUJdyGid
Rich Forbes