In faith, walk triumphantly over waves of disbelief

August 2024 ยท 3 minute read

Upon hearing the Savior's voice as He approached the disciples' stricken ship on the stormy sea, Peter "answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water."

Jesus said, "Come." (Matt. 14:28-29.)"And when Peter had 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?" (Matt. 14:29-31.)

Frederick W. Farrar wrote: "If, like Peter, we fix our eyes on Jesus, we too may walk triumphantly over the swelling waves of disbelief, and unterrified amid the rising winds of doubt; but if we turn away our eyes from Him in whom we have believed - if, as it is so easy to do, and as we are so much tempted to do, we look rather at the power and fury of those terrible and destructive elements than at Him who can help and save - then we too shall inevitably sink. If we feel, often and often, that the water-floods threaten to drown us, and the deep to swallow up the tossed vessel of our Church and Faith, may it again and again be granted us to hear amid the storm and the darkness, and the voices prophesying war, those two sweetest of the Savior's utterances - Fear not. Only Believe.'It is I. Be not afraid.' " (The Life of Christ, Fountain Publications, H. W. Shank, Publisher, Portland, Ore., p. 313.)

In The Mortal Messiah, Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: "At this point Matthew says: `Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.' We are left to conclude that those so doing were the sailors or other passengers, for the apostles had long since had such a witness in their souls. To the extent the chosen disciples joined in this worship, it was but a reaffirmation of that which they already knew, even as it is common among us to affirm and reaffirm our knowledge of the divine sonship of this same Holy Being.

"Mark, however, says, They were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.' (Mark 6:51-52.) It would appear that this amazement and wonder may have been the feelings of the disciples as well as the others who sailed in the battered bark. Why, in the light of all that has transpired in their lives, would there be a lingering strain of doubt and uncertainty in any disciple's mind? The answer is found in the fact that the chosen disciples had not yet received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Though they were all pillars of spiritual strength and righteousness, save Judas only, yetthe things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.' (1 Cor. 2:11.) Until the natural man becomes a new creature of the Holy Ghost, until man is born again, until his stony heart is touched by the Spirit of the living God, he cannot, by any power of his own, stand sure and steadfast in the cause of truth. It is no more difficult to believe that Jesus or Peter or any faithful person could walk on a tempestuous sea than it is to believe in any other miracle."

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