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by
Patricia Wilson
“Now faith is
confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” — Hebrews 11:1, NIV
This scripture passage is one big statement
to swallow.
It means that my faith in God’s hand in my
life means that I am confident of what I hope for and am assured of this, even
when I do not see it.
It means that I need to remain faithful, even
when I don’t see the evidence I expect to see. How on earth can I be expected
to do this?
I’m sure that Peter never in his life
expected to be a water walker (Matthew 14:22-33).
Yet, when he saw Jesus walking on the waves
that were battering the small boat in which he and the other disciples were
cowering, he jumped over the side to join his Master.
Imagine his emotions when he felt the water
under his feet, surrounded by the noise and violence of the storm, realizing
that he was walking on the water.
Was he filled with exultation, joy, awe?
I’ve always thought that everything was going
fine until Peter allowed his rational mind to think about what was happening.
In a heart-beat, he went from faith to fear.
When fear entered his thoughts, he began to sink.
Here’s the best part of the story.
Jesus chided Peter for having so little
faith, but he didn’t let Peter sink and drown. He reached out his hand and held
Peter up.
God does the same thing for us. He calls us
to take steps far out of our comfort zones and walk in faith on the path that
is laid before us.
It’s up to us to take the first step.
Like Peter, we may sometimes need to leap out
the comfort of the familiar into the unpredictable maelstrom of stormy waves
and wild winds of life.
This is the cornerstone of faith — the
willingness to take that first step even though we can’t see the outcome.
It’s having confidence in what we hope for
and assurance about what we don’t see.
When we hear people talk about “stepping
out in faith,” they are talking about taking action.
Demonstrating faith is more a matter of
movement than hoping.
The woman who touched Jesus’ garment had to
make a move, even though Jesus didn’t see her (Luke 8:43-48).
The men who collected the loaves and fishes
had to take the baskets around, even though there was no food (Matthew 14:13-21).
Jairus, the centurion, took Jesus to see his
daughter, even though he knew she was dead (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43).
Each time, a first step that seemed
impossible, ridiculous, even a waste of time.
And each time, that first step in faith led
to unbelievable “water walking”.
It’s scary. In fact, it’s sometimes downright
terrifying. But that’s where the faith comes in.
In that moment of taking a first step in
faith, we know that even if we falter and allow our fear of the unknown to
overcome our faith, our God won’t let us drown.
At this point, you
may be thinking, “Well, that’s great for those people. They had a whole lot
more faith than I do. My faith is a pretty small at the best of times.”
Water walking isn’t about how much faith you
have. We’re told that even if our faith is as small as a grain of mustard seed,
we can move mountains!
In 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Paul tells us that
faith is a gift of God.
We know that faithfulness is a fruit of the
Spirit (Galatians
5:22-23).
That terrifying first step is possible
because God gives us the faith to take it.
God will give you the faith you need when you
need it. When you believe that, water walking — as all things — is possible
with God (Matthew
19:26).
Pat
Wilson
My
Quiet Spaces content contributor and author of Quiet
Spaces: Prayer Interludes for Women. She lives in Victoria,
British Columbia.
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