Peter And The “If”

Matthew 14 tells us that the boisterous wind didn’t die down until minutes after Peter’s request when Jesus actually got in the boat! Yet in the dark storminess Peter says, “Lord, if it is You, BID me COME.” (v.28) Notice his first word was “if.” That “if” indicates he was still not totally sure if this was a ghost or not! So with one leg over the side of the boat, he intends to put his life on the line to test and see if it is Jesus or a ghost. I’m thinking James and John grabbed Peter’s coattail yelling, “Peter have you gone completely mental? If a ghost came after us in the middle of this stormy darkness, don’t you think he might lie and tell you he is Jesus?” Nothing about that situation was logical. Peter’s response was not logical because that cry in Peter did not come up out of his logic. Peter was known to be rash and rambunctious, but that cry did not come out of his recklessness. That cry came up out of the destiny in Peter.

(This is the second excerpt from the article “Bid Me Come” written by Kathy Gabler in Volume 18 Issue 3 of SEEC Magazine. Excerpts are posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.)