Proof

“O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).

Jesus Walking On Water (Varint)

It is really hard to have faith.

The other day a young mother posted something on Facebook showing that she and her husband had just lost a little baby.

Her little boy was a beautiful little soul who was born early and was unable to survive due to his age and development.

I have been thinking about this mother and her family ever since.

When terrible things happen, it is very easy to think that God has turned His back on us.  It is very easy to think that there is nowhere to turn or to have hope.

However, when a child is taken to Heaven before his earthly parents are ready to allow it, it can seem as though the world is upside down.

We live in a developed country with low infant mortality rates and control over so many things.  However, despite all the best advancements in science and technology, children still die before their parents every single day.  And this inversion of reality – the reality that God had created for the world when He made Adam and Eve – is so hard to bear that God Himself allowed His own mother to bear it so that we could have an example of how to be when such terrible tragic things happen…

God is asking us to give proof of our faith in the daily things of life.

You see, we cannot have faith and no faith simultaneously.  We cannot jump off a cliff and hold on to the edge at the same time.  Rather, we are asked to trust in God so completely that we – like Saint Simon Peter – leap out of the boat and begin running across the water.

But even Saint Simon Peter – who walked beside Christ with his own two legs – struggled to have faith.  Even he watched the waves grow taller and thought to himself, I am doomed, and this is too great a miracle and I cannot do this.  And I need to stop.

“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.  And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31).

And I can imagine the others in the boat watching – as others have watched me in my life.  I can imagine them thinking.  “Oh Peter, what an idiot.  He is always doing crazy things!”  Or, “Look at how scared Peter is!  He brings these things on himself.  Whatever possessed him to leap from the boat?”  Or maybe even, “What a nuisance Peter really is!  How annoying he is to get in the way again!”

And yet, Peter saw Christ and loved Him.  He loved God so greatly that nothing stood in the way of his faith.  And watching Christ he began to run.  And perhaps he just lost sight of Christ in the swell?  Maybe he could not see God clearly for a moment, and in that moment, he doubted what was happening?  Maybe God was hidden beneath the wave and Saint Simon Peter forgot to loos with the eyes of his soul?

We will only know these things in Heaven, but in the meantime, as I pray for this young mother and her family, I think of Saint Peter and I close my eyes.  For my Beloved is standing there on the water, just behind the wave.  I just need to remain fixed on Him…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.