....from the daily devotional site of My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Oh, dear, this hit me where I am!
"And Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid." Matthew 14:29-30
The wind was actually boisterous, the waves were actually high, but Peter did not see them at first. He did not reckon with them, he simply recognized his Lord and stepped out in recognition of Him, and walked on the water. Then he began to reckon with the actual things, and down he went instantly. Why could not our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves as well as on the top of them? Neither could be done saving by recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out on God over some things, then self-consideration enters in and down we go. If you are recognizing your Lord, you have no business with where He engineers your circumstances. The actual things are, but immediately you look at them you are overwhelmed, you cannot recognize Jesus, and the rebuke comes: "Wherefore didst thou doubt?" Let actual circumstances be what they may, keep recognizing Jesus, maintain complete reliance on Him.
If you debate for a second when God has spoken, it is all up. Never begin to say - "Well, I wonder if He did speak?" Be reckless immediately, fling it all out on Him. You do not know when His voice will come, but whenever the realization of God comes in the faintest way imaginable, recklessly abandon. It is only by abandon that you recognize Him. You will only realize His voice more clearly by recklessness.
It interests me the detail the wind was boisterous. That's no accident of course since God controls the wind. It shows the whole thing wasn't about the neat trick of walking on water but about trusting. The wind seemed gratuitous, like God was testing Peter since you'd think walking on water was "hard enough"! But to add the element of danger was to emphasize trust. I can try to walk a tightrope two feet off the ground and not trust. If the rope is twenty feet off the ground, then I'd better trust the net below or the person who promises to catch me!