Uncle Jerry spoke this past Sunday on how taking risks is a part of fruitfulness. He mentioned how taking risks is the thing that elderly people regret not doing the most, with the second being not spending more time thinking about their lives.
In some ways, taking more risks and spending more time thinking can be counterintuitive. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 2:25 (NIV),
“Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.”
When we think about thinking more, the main outcome is to choose the safer, less risky, “best” option. Peter was quick to take the risk and jump out of the boat at Jesus’s one word, but once he was out of the boat, he began to see that what he had gotten himself into was not the safest, “best” situation to be in. The more Peter thought about his position—the waves, the wind, and the rain—the more he got afraid, and he began to sink.
“ ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’
29 ‘Come,’ he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”
– Matthew 14:28-29.
We can be like Peter in this too. We can be quick to say yes and jump in because we know God is in it, but once we get to think more about it, we can start to feel fearful or overwhelmed because we have taken our eyes off of Jesus and placed them on our circumstances.
Jesus didn’t go anywhere the entire time Peter stepped out of the boat; He was there when Peter was walking on water and He was there to catch Peter when he began to sink. He’s there for us too. He was there when He called us to come and when everything was fine, and He will be there to catch us when we fall. He will always be there for us, whether we can see him over the waves or hear him over the wind; He is there, always.