Which Way Are You Headed?

Years ago, I was driving down the road and the Lord gave me a poem. It was about the story of Peter walking on the water. I wrote it down but have since misplaced most of it. I only remember the last stanza, but it still captures the essence of the message:

You see it’s not about running,

or even walking on water.

Christ won’t be offended,

If you jump in and swim.

Though bombarded with questions,

God sent only One Answer.

Since you caught sight of Jesus,

Are you moving t’ward Him?

In this poem, The Holy Ghost was telling me to focus on the big stuff and not get bogged down in the trivial things. We often think that the fantastic part of this story is about walking atop the waves. This just shows our limited viewpoint. We only think it’s big because we’ve never seen it. But think about it from God’s perspective.

In heaven people aren’t bound by the limitations of this world such as gravity, weight, buoyancy, etc. Billions of saints who have gone on before us are now able to do things the we can’t even imagine. No. We’ve focused on the wrong part of this story. Here is a story of a man who caught sight of our miraculous LORD and cried out “If it’s really You, please let me come to You.” Here’s the crux of the story. Jesus heard the cry of his heart and encouraged, welcomed and sustained his approach. Jesus wasn’t hung up on whether Peter could walk on water. That was Peter’s deal. Peter was the one who thought that the lead up and approach to Jesus had to be ‘Over the Top.’

Jesus simply wanted him to come. Jesus also didn’t berate him for his natural doubts. That was also Peter’s hang up. Here was the LORD’s focus: COME. If Peter had dove out of the boat and swam to Jesus, exclaiming that “he just wanted to be near Him”, the story wouldn’t be any less powerful or poignant. As a singer and musician, I love the praise and worship times where we draw in close to God, but let me be the first to assure you, God doesn’t have to have anything or anyone else to set the stage. He prizes nothing more than your obedient, excited, eagerness to come. Walk, run, jog, limp, crawl, or yes, jump in and swim. Just make sure you move toward Jesus.

“Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you.” James 4:8