Doubt

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'"  (Matthew 14:29-31) 

Here's the thing about this situation. When Peter saw the waves and became afraid and began to doubt, he started to sink. To us it is quite obvious the reason for his sinking: he started to doubt. He was afraid, and in the moment, he didn't trust that Jesus would keep him afloat. 

But today I was reading this passage and it occurred to me that in the situation, Peter probably thought the reason he was sinking was because of the wind and waves. After all, he sees the wind, and immediately starts to sink. So he probably thought that the reason he was sinking was because of his situation/surroundings, not because he doubted. 

How many times do we think this in our everyday lives? Life gets us into so many situations where we cry out, "Lord, save me!" But when we get to that point of being overwhelmed, where we cry out to him because we think we're going to drown, what if the reason were about to drown is because of unbelief? Yes, obviously the troubles are there whether we believe on Christ to keep us afloat or not, but whether we start to drown under them is up to us.