There is a phrase making the rounds this week that stopped me in my tracks: blessed are the risk-takers. It is not one of the Beatitudes, of course. Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful. But there is something true buried in that phrase, and I think it is worth digging out, because a lot of us are standing right now at the edge of something and cannot make ourselves jump.
Maybe it is a conversation you have been avoiding. A job you are not sure you should leave. A calling you feel but cannot prove. A relationship worth mending that could go either way. You do the math over and over and the math never comes out clean. And so you stay put, telling yourself you are being wise, when really you are just afraid.
The man who got out of the boat
Scripture gives us a picture of this that I keep coming back to. The disciples are in a boat in the dark, the wind against them, and Jesus comes walking on the water. Peter — impulsive, big-hearted Peter — calls out: "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." And Jesus says one word: "Come."
"So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him" (Matthew 14:29-31).
We usually tell this story as a warning — see what happens when you take your eyes off Jesus, you sink. And that is in there. But notice something first. Eleven men stayed in the boat. Only one walked on water, even for a moment. And the moment he started to sink, the very first thing that happened was a hand reaching out to catch him. Peter's risk was not punished. It was met.
Faith was never certainty
Here is what I want you to hear. Faith is not the same thing as being sure of the outcome. If you were sure, you would not need faith at all. Faith is trust in a Person when the outcome is exactly what you cannot see. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). The whole eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a list of people who stepped out with no guarantee — Abraham "went out, not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). Not knowing. That is the point.
Leading people, in the church and in business, I have watched this over and over. The ones who grow are almost never the ones who waited until every risk was gone. They are the ones who took the next faithful step while their knees were still knocking. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is obedience carried out with fear still in the room.
And I want to be careful here, because the world has a counterfeit version of this. The counterfeit says: bet big, take the leap, and God is obligated to reward you. That is not faith, that is gambling dressed up in Bible verses. God is not a slot machine you activate by being bold. The risk that heaven honors is not recklessness. It is obedience — stepping where He actually said "come."
When you sink
Now hear this if you tried once and it went badly. Maybe you stepped out and it did not work. The venture failed, the relationship did not mend, the prayer seemed to go unanswered, and you are still tender about it. Peter sank too. And the story does not end with him drowning as a lesson to the rest. It ends with a hand. The same Jesus who called him out is the one who caught him. If you went under, you were not abandoned. You were held. The Holy Spirit is still near you, still willing, still calling you back toward the water when you are ready.
So what is the boat you are gripping right now? What has God quietly said "come" about that you keep talking yourself out of?
Tonight we gather for Prayer Night at 7. I can think of no better place to bring the very step you are afraid to take — to say it out loud, to let people stand with you, and to ask the Spirit for the courage you do not yet feel. You do not have to walk on water alone. There is a hand already reaching. He caught Peter mid-sink, and He will not let you go under either.
Join us this Sunday at 10:30am — Outpouring Worship Center, Ravenna.