When you sink (and why that's not the end of the story)

There’s a moment in Matthew’s gospel that stops me every time I read it.

Peter has just done something extraordinary. He’s climbed out of a boat in the middle of a storm in the middle of the night - just because Jesus said come. And for a moment, it works. He’s walking on water.

Then he looks around. He notices the wind. He feels the waves. And he sinks.

I think most of us know that feeling. Not the water - but the other kind of sinking. The moment you made a commitment and couldn’t keep it. The faith you felt in August that had quietly evaporated by October. The prayer life you meant to rebuild, the patience you promised yourself you’d keep, the brave thing you said yes to and then quietly backed away from.

And now there’s this low hum of shame. A sense that you’ve let God down. That you’ve used up your chances.

Here’s what I want you to hear today: Matthew records that Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed Peter. Not after a conversation. Not once Peter had apologised. Immediately - while Peter was still going under.

That’s the shape of grace. It doesn’t wait for you to sort yourself out.

Psalm 40 says it beautifully - he lifted me out of the pit, out of the mud and the mire, and set my feet on solid ground. Past tense. The writer is on the other side of it. And the testimony is full of hope - not because the pit wasn’t real, but because the rescue was.

Your one step for today? Just say his name. That’s all Peter said. And it was enough.

Watch the full devotional here:

With you in this.

Rob

Read this week’s devotionals here - https://open.substack.com/pub/battledrilldevotional/p/when-the-storm-wont-stop-and-what?r=643q6o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true