Lord, save me!

Matthew 14:22-33 (TNIV) -

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

28 "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!"

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

My thoughts -

I love Peter's initially response to Jesus walking on water. I don't know if he was testing this "ghost" to determine if it really was Jesus or if he figured this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to do the impossible and didn't want it to pass him by. Either way he told Jesus to tell him to come do it to. That's something I'd never do. I have a hard enough time swimming while observing the rules of the natural world. I'm not about to try to break them in the water.

No, maybe Peter got himself in a bit over his head. I mean, it's cool at first. He's walking on water. But he's WALKING. On WATER. And there's this wind and these waves and he's WALKING on WATER. But not for long. He's scared. That may not be a strong enough word. He's terrified. And sinking.

"Lord, save me!"

I wonder how often our mouths out-pace our faith. We get ourselves over committed and then don't trust God to help us complete what we have set out to do. I'm not about to try to walk on water. That would be crazy. But I might try to get up early every morning for devotional time. I might try to give more to the poor; to give more time and money to the church; to tithe like I know I should; to commit more of myself to do missions; to share God's love with people I don't know; to live simpler; to fast regularly.

I might try any or all of these things and find that there are waves and wind. I'm tired, and keeping up with them feels like work. I might find other things to spend my money on. I might fall into the trap of trying to keep up with my neighbors. I tried, Jesus, but I just can't do this. It was crazy. I got caught up in the moment. I didn't really mean to get myself into this. I'm drowning.

"Lord, save me!"

God, gives us the faith to trust you in everything and to follow your will no mater how crazy it may seem.