Walking On Water

“Come. Be Not afraid”

-Mark 14

Picture yourself in the middle of the ocean and in the distance there is a man. Not just an ordinary man. A man that is walking on the water. What would be your first reaction?

                The disciples of Jesus Christ had this very experience. When they first saw Him, they thought He was some type of spirit and they were very afraid. Jesus answered them and said, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” (Matt. 14:27) Peter exercised great faith when he asked the Lord to, “bid me to come unto thee on the water.” (28) I often wonder what I would have done in that same situation; if I would have been afraid like the others or had the faith to venture out on the storm tossed waves to go unto Christ.  Christ answered Peter and told him to simply, “Come.”(29)

How wonderful it must have been to have Christ have the faith in Peter in that he would be able to come unto Him, and walk on the water.  Peter did not only have the faith to go out on the water, he had the faith to stay on the top of the water, for a time. Peter was distracted by the boisterous waves and wind and began to sink. It took just one moment and Peter looked away from Christ and he fell into the water. Peter cried out to Christ to “save him.” Immediately, Christ reached out His hand to him. How swift the Lord was to save Peter. He was there as soon as He was called upon.

                In Doctrine and Covenant section 88, verse 67 it reads:

“And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.”

Peter had a moment when he completely had his eye single to the glory of God. He was filled with that light and it comprehended all things. John had the faith to enable him to walk on water, because he had a firm foundation in the testimony of Jesus Christ. Peter’s mistake came when he took his eye off of Christ and let fear enter in. He regained his faith when he trusted that Christ could and would save him.  This very same principle can be applied to our everyday lives. If we have exercise the faith in Christ and keep our eye single to His glory, I think we would be surprised at what we could do. It is also important to remember that while we might not all be able to walk on water, if we try and put forth the effort, we cannot fall so deep that Christ won’t be there to lift us back up where we belong.  If we are doing what we need to be doing, if we are coming unto Him and trying our best to keep our eye single to His glory, He will meet us halfway. Christ does not want to see us drown. He doesn’t want to see us down. If we call upon Him, He will come. He will lift us out of the stormy waves and take us to safer ground. When we start to take our eyes off of Christ we get under our problems. All that Christ asks is that we step away from the darkness and come unto his light. The light that comprehendeth all the things. His saving light.  No such faith has been recorded in the history since than that of Peter. In the scriptures it does not clarify whether or not he lost faith in Christ or if it was a lack of faith in himself. Christ obviously had enough faith in Peter to beckon him to come. From this we can also learn that while we are exercising faith in our Savior, He is exercising faith in us. We also need to exercise that same faith in ourselves. If the Lord commands us to “come,” He will make it possible for us to do so. 

“For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepares a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (Nephi 3:7) 

How wonderful it would be to know that my Savior and Redeemer would have enough faith in me to beckon me to come walk with Him on the water in the middle of a storm. I hope that one day I might be able to say, like Peter can also say,

“I walked today where Christ walked.”