"And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
Matthew 14:31
This is when Christ was walking on the water, and Peter wants to try it too... and he *does* ... he walks on water. And then he gets afraid, and worried, and starts to sink, and asks the Lord to save him.
This same thing happens to us in our lives all the time. It probably isn't walking on water, but we all start doing miraculous things, having faith and confidence that we can do it... and then we start to doubt. I think maybe it is because we think that we have to rely on our own talents and skills. That we have to do it alone. And it's hard to have confidence in yourself when you know you are fallible.
I heard a story once about Mormon settlers who were attempting to settle parts of Arizona. The prophet asked them to go, and they went. As they continued, they found themselves in a desert, and ran out of water, and thought they were going to die. So, they prayed and asked God to send them water. And it rained. They were okay, and they turned back and told the prophet the story. The prophet listened, and asked another man who was sitting in his office what he would have done. The man said that he would have continued, and kept praying. And he is the one who eventually founded one of the first settlements in that area. I am not sure of the accuracy of the story, but I think that it teaches the same lesson as this verse. We can rely on the Lord. We can trust him, and have absolute confidence in him. Yes, we're fallible. We're sinners. We screw up a lot of things. But *with* God, we can do miracles. And we can do anything that he asks us to do or supports us in doing. We can make a difference in people's lives. We can change the world for the better. We have to keep going, and keep praying. I'm not saying we shouldn't know when to stop, or know the difference between our will and God's will. We need to know those things in order to avoid disasters. But when we're engaged in doing something good... something that we know that God approves of... let's do it. Let's let go of our doubts and rely on the Lord.
Matthew 14:31
This is when Christ was walking on the water, and Peter wants to try it too... and he *does* ... he walks on water. And then he gets afraid, and worried, and starts to sink, and asks the Lord to save him.
This same thing happens to us in our lives all the time. It probably isn't walking on water, but we all start doing miraculous things, having faith and confidence that we can do it... and then we start to doubt. I think maybe it is because we think that we have to rely on our own talents and skills. That we have to do it alone. And it's hard to have confidence in yourself when you know you are fallible.
I heard a story once about Mormon settlers who were attempting to settle parts of Arizona. The prophet asked them to go, and they went. As they continued, they found themselves in a desert, and ran out of water, and thought they were going to die. So, they prayed and asked God to send them water. And it rained. They were okay, and they turned back and told the prophet the story. The prophet listened, and asked another man who was sitting in his office what he would have done. The man said that he would have continued, and kept praying. And he is the one who eventually founded one of the first settlements in that area. I am not sure of the accuracy of the story, but I think that it teaches the same lesson as this verse. We can rely on the Lord. We can trust him, and have absolute confidence in him. Yes, we're fallible. We're sinners. We screw up a lot of things. But *with* God, we can do miracles. And we can do anything that he asks us to do or supports us in doing. We can make a difference in people's lives. We can change the world for the better. We have to keep going, and keep praying. I'm not saying we shouldn't know when to stop, or know the difference between our will and God's will. We need to know those things in order to avoid disasters. But when we're engaged in doing something good... something that we know that God approves of... let's do it. Let's let go of our doubts and rely on the Lord.
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