Page 17 - Of Course You Can Walk On Water - eBook

wave of denial and looked in pity and forgiveness upon His disciple that Peter was saved,
perhaps, from being swallowed up forever, as Judas was swallowed.

Peter needed to see the wind and the waves. He had to see them at some time in his life.
Jesus led him through the experience as gently as He could. Peter was not aware of his
self-sufficiency and pride, but until he was brought to recognize these sins, and thus to
turn to Jesus for help to be saved from them, he could not really sense his need of his

Master. Until he truly grasped that need he could not be brought to the necessary
repentance for his. sins.

Peter was nothing if not sincere. But he did not know himself. He was not aware of his
own weakness, and actually considered his most serious faults to be strengths.

There are many of us who are sincere in our desire to serve Jesus who will, at some time
in our experience, have to be led to see the wind and the waves. In other words, we must
see ourselves as we really are. Until this happens, we may never realize our appalling
spiritual and moral shortcomings.

Before we can walk on the violent seas ahead there must come a facing up to the defects
we cherish, the precious sins we may not want to see, our weaknesses, our real
characters-our self-sufficiency, our helplessness. We will have to see that what we think
of as our area of greatest strength is the point of greatest weakness.

"'My power,'" said God to Paul, "'is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Cor. 12:9).

"Our own strength is weakness, but that which God gives is mighty and will make
everyone who obtains it more than conqueror." - Testimonies, vol. 2, p.203.

To say that we have no strength of our own, that Christ is our strength, is not to resign our

responsibilities and become passive. Writing of what takes place in a person who grasps
the depths of his own insufficiency and the power of Christ's sufficiency, Ellen White
says, "You will have strength from God that will hold fast to His strength; and a new
light, even the light of living faith, will be possible to you .... There will be in you a
power, an earnestness, and a simplicity that will make you a polished instrument in the
hands of God." -Ibid., vol. 5, pp. 514, 515.

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