Do you ever feel like you are the disciple Peter who asked Jesus to call him out of the boat to walk on water toward Him but then fell into the depths the second he took his eyes off Christ?

I have chosen to follow Jesus.

I have even asked Him to call me out of the safety of my boat…I have been bold enough at times to take a few steps of faith onto the water!

Then, I sink….I cry out to Jesus while reaching my flailing arms towards Him until He pulls me back up to walk with Him again.

Repeat process.

Sound familiar?

In Romans 4, we are reminded that Abraham believed in hope that God was able to keep the promises He had made…

That belief strengthened his faith even when his circumstances did not change for many years…In fact, Abraham did not see the full fruition of God’s promise to make him a father to many nations- he only saw himself becoming a father to Isaac after years of waiting.

Peter, on the other hand, fell through the water the moment his eyes came off Christ to look instead to the impossible void of swirling water all around him.

His faith was strengthened only when He kept his eyes on Christ.

What is the lesson here?

Abraham new what his problems were…he was acutely aware of what God had promised him but had not yet fulfilled.

Yet…He chose to believe in the promise instead of staring at the circumstance or complaining in the waiting….he of course learned the hard way first before realizing that believing was a much better choice (read the story of Ishmael for a warning about taking matters into your own hands in an effort to speed up the process)!

So..I am being taught that being preoccupied with the problem while trying to walk on water will get me nowhere..

Having hope in what I already have is no hope at all (Romans 8:24)…Who hopes for what they already have?

So “against all hope, Abraham believed..he did not waiver but was STRENTHENED in his faith because he was fully convinced that God had the power to do what He had promised” (Romans 4:19-21).

I need to trust that God will finish what He started and to have faith that He is the ultimate Promise Keeper. I need to have hope in what I believe and not what I already have for the promises of my life have not been fulfilled.

Give me faith to keep my eyes above the waves Lord and to keep turning my face to You instead of what threatens to pull me under. Help me to stand and believe in hope against hope.