Most of us are familiar with the account of Jesus walking on the water recorded in Matthew 14:22-33. Generally when we look at this account it is Peter and his actions that we are most concerned with. We all know that as Jesus approached His disciples on this stormy night they initially thought that He was a ghost (verse 23). After Jesus identifies Himself, Peter says, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water”. At Jesus’ command, Peter comes down out of the boat and begins to walk to Jesus on the water. It is at this time that we generally focus our attention on Peter’s failure to keep his attention on the Lord. Peter sees the waves and the wind and begins to sink. And Jesus chastises him for his “little faith”. Consider this, though. Where were the other eleven disciples? They never got out of the boat.
Like the eleven, we are often afraid to get out of the boat. We let the fear of failure keep us from doing things that need to be done in the Lord’s service. More good works fail to bear fruit due to never being attempted than were ever a failure after being started. Will we fail from time to time? Certainly, but we may succeed as well. But we will never know until we “get out of the boat” and try.