Focus: Why The Sinking?

Text: Mt.14:31

"And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of LITTLE FAITH, wherefore didst thou DOUBT?"

Peter suffered from three deadly viruses: fear, doubt, and little faith. Matthew reports that when Peter "saw the wind boisterous, he was AFRAID; and BEGINNING TO SINK, he cried, saying, Lord, save me" (Mt.14:30). Phobia gripped Peter. He saw the boisterous wind and became afraid. He stepped out in faith, but fear took hold of him as soon as he set his eyes on the turbulent sea. His faith bowed to fear.

Our text says that Peter had 'little' faith, and he doubted.

The Lord Jesus Christ asked him, "Why did you doubt?" Peter was bedeviled by the excess luggage of fear, little faith and doubt. 

The weight of these three spiritual negatives is enough to sink any individual.

These are three bedfellows.

Jesus' question is:

Why did you fear?

Why did you doubt?

Why such a little faith?

The word 'little' is oligos in the Greek, and it means brief, momentary, not durable, not lasting. Peter's faith was fleeting, not persevering; passing, not lasting; temporary, not permanent. Sort, not size, is the issue about Peter's faith. It is a non-persistent, non-lasting and quitting faith. It is faith that can't follow through to the end. 

The word 'doubt' is 'distazo' in the Greek, and it refers to something that is split into two parts and going in different directions. Peter was double-minded, having both a desire to go to Jesus and a desire to get back to the ship. Imagine a situation where one of his legs is trying to go forward to Jesus and the other leg is trying to get back to the ship!

Three negatives heavy enough to sink Peter under the waters. Peter couldn't have survived the stormy waters had Jesus Christ not been there at that moment to lift him up and calm the storm.

Amid his fears, little faith and doubt, he could still pray to Jesus Christ. Instantly, Christ responded to his call and cry, and saved him from drowning.

The enemy of our soul uses the storms of life to instill fear and doubt into us, making it very difficult for our faith to endure.

We begin to sink not by the boisterous winds of life, but by our own fears, un-enduring faith and doubt.

I pray for you to rise above your fears and doubts, to demonstrate confidence in the presence of Jesus, and to exercise courage in the face of life's challenges.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter