The moment Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and put it on the elements of the storm, he got distracted and afraid. He took his eyes off his Source of supernatural power to walk through the storm, therefore he was left to rely on his own strength, which is a guarantee that you’re about to fall! Oh, but please hear this my friends!Though you may have hit rock bottom and have fallen in your storm, you can choose to be like Peter, who had enough sense and a little faith left to know that he could cry out to Jesus for salvation in the storm! All Peter could find to say was a 3 word prayer that Jesus will always answer, “Lord save me!” You see, sometimes the storm hasn’t stopped yet, because Jesus wants you to know that…

HE’LL SAVE YOU IN THE STORM

Notice I said in the storm and not from the storm. It’s like when I was an adolescent growing up in South Florida and a storm was raging in our home. My dad wasn’t a regular presence in my life for 6 years after moving from New York and my parents marriage was falling apart. Yet in the midst of this storm, at age 12, I heard the call of the LORD to get baptized and be saved in Jesus Christ. Now even though my baptism was a wonderful experience, my father wasn’t there and my parents got divorced a few months later. Yet Jesus stepped into my life and saved me. God stepped in and said, “I am your Father.” And looking back at this experience and my journey with Jesus ever since, I really resonated with a quote from pastor and author Tim Keller, which says…

When Jesus said that Peter had little faith, He didn’t mean that Peter had no faith. Peter had faith, but started to doubt. As a matter of fact, it could have been that Jesus had a smile on His face when He said that to Peter, because Peter had enough faith in Him to get out of the boat and He wanted him to keep going all the way to Him without doubting. It would have been a great example for the others and for us. And though he took his eyes off Jesus and started to fall, he still had some faith enough cry out to Him for salvation.

And when the text says “When they got into the boat” it’s revealing that Jesus walked with Peter, through the storm that was still raging, with maybe an arm around his shoulder, back into the boat. By this point Peter and the other disciples could care less about the storm. Peter was walking on water with Jesus by his side back to the boat and Jesus will walk with us to our destination safely. Then the wind ceased when they got into the boat. This reveals that all storms are temporary! They have an expiration date! Yet Jesus was with him the entire journey.

“Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”” Matthew 14:33 NKJV. Those in the boat worshipped Jesus, because of what they experienced in the storm, what they saw Him do for Peter in the storm, which gave them clarity as to who He is, the divine Son of God. Their experience of finding Jesus in the storm took them to a deeper place of faith in who Jesus really is. Sometimes people need to see what we experienced with Jesus in the storm so they too would have faith in Him, be saved and worship Him! Then the astonishing truth suddenly dawns on us. Jesus gives us supernatural power to walk through the storm and saves us in the storm, because sometimes it takes storms to lead us to a clearer, faith-deepening revelation of who He is. Peter’s experience lead him to a confident assurance and declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. When everyone else left, he, speaking for the 12, said where else shall we go? We have come to know that You have the words of eternal life.