When Jesus commanded Peter to come to Him on the water on that stormy night, recorded  in Matt. 14:24-33, Peter got out of the boat and began walking on the water toward Jesus. 

He was doing well until he looked at the wind.  What that means is that he looked at what the wind was doing.  It was blowing against him.  The hair on his head was getting blown around.  His clothes were pinned against his body.  In other words, he could feel the effects of the wind.  The wind was churning the sea, making it choppy with big waves.  Peter felt and saw up close what the wind was doing. 

He gave his full attention to the hostile wind, which would not be hard to do.  I would add at this point that focusing your attention on something and giving it your full attention is different than being aware of it, knowing it’s affecting you, and acknowledging it but not giving your full attention to it. 

With his full attention on the wind and waves, Peter allowed fear to predominate his mind, and he began to sink.  He had shifted his attention from the Lord to the loud noise of his surrounding circumstances – the wind and waves and how they were affecting him.  And those surrounding circumstances began to rate higher on Peter’s attention scale than Jesus.

When the storms and troubles that come against us get a higher rating than Jesus, we open the door to fear.  We give fear a place in our hearts and minds.  And there it puts down roots and grows and sucks the life out of you.  In the end fear replaces your faith in the Lord.  And that’s when you sink and are overcome by your enemies – the world, the flesh, and the devil. 

Do a self-check.  Who or what gets the higher rating in your life – fear or faith?  Every troubling season of life is a test on what or who is going to get your focused attention and predominate your heart and mind.  You will either take Jesus by the hand, as did Peter, and let Him save you, and then walk with Him as the Authority over all, including you, or you will be overcome with fear and sink in your distress and troubles.

The good news is that we get to choose what gets the higher rating.  Jesus is above the water, not under it.  Therefore, He can pull us up and out of our fears to walk with Him through life’s troubles. With faith in the Lord Jesus we have salvation.