"Peter answered Him and said,
Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come. And
when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the waters to go to
Jesus" (Matt. 14:28,29).

The individuality of the
path of the Christian is what I would press upon our
souls just now. How strikingly it is presented! We see a solitary man, amid
boisterous winds and waves, forsaking the protection of the boat and the
company of the other disciples, and inviting the word that bids him to such a
difficult path. We often speak of a walk of faith. It is well to look steadily
at such a picture as this and to ask ourselves, "Have I ever realized it
in my own experience? Is there anything in it that corresponds to the path as I
know it?"

It was a solitary path, but Peter
had before him as the end of his path the gracious and glorious presence of Him
who had called him; for sustaining power in his path he had the Lord’s word
which was a promise for every possible difficulty. Even though Peter might
leave the company of the others, every step on this road would make the
Presence before him more bright and lustrous.

Again I would press the
individuality of the path. As we look back upon the examples of faith that God
has given us in the Scriptures, how each one shines out from surrounding
darkness! There was Enoch in that walk with God that never knew death. There
was Noah with his family, sole survivors of a judgment-wrecked world. There was
Abraham whose life was a great contrast even to that of his nephew Lot. All of these stand out from the dark background as men not formed by their
circumstances. They were no mere natural outgrowth from their surroundings, but
plants of the Lord’s planting. They maintained themselves where no power but
His could avail to keep them. A walk with God means necessarily independence of
men, perhaps even of other believers. Such a walk will be marked by unfeigned
lowliness and absence of self- will.

How striking is the path of this
lone man, Peter! It is a path that terminates only in the presence of the Lord,
and on which every step in advance brings nearer to Him! Various as our paths
must be, it is this that alone gives them their common Christian character; it
is this that makes us pilgrims, or as the inspired Word presents it, racers.
Our goal is outside the world and our object is Christ in heaven. If it be not
so with us, then we are immeasurably below those like Abraham who by their
lives declared plainly that they sought a better country. For this reason God
was "not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a
city (Heb. 11:14-16).

This path of faith is one in which
we may show, with Peter, not the greatness of our faith, but the littleness of
it. It will never really make much of us. Do we seek it? The glory of
Christ is what lies before and beckons us. If, for our weakness, there be
rebuke, it is only that of a perfect love. The Lord did not ask Peter,
"Why did you presume?" but "Why did you doubt?"
(Matt. 14:31).  And with that, He offered Peter the outstretched hand of human
sympathy and divine support. Dear fellow-Christian, is there not for all the
trials of the way an overabundant recompense?

Let us remember that it is to the
one who invites his Lord’s invitation to such a path that it really
opens. The "come" of Christ is an answer to him who says, "Lord,
if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water." The word
for the path is the answer alone to the heart for the path. And what to
Him is the joy of such desire so expressed? Let ours go forth, if any have not
yet, with such a cry:"Lord, if it be upon the waters I must come, and
that path it is which alone leads to Thee, then bid me come to Thee, blest,
gracious Master, even upon the water!"

(From Help and Food, Vol.
2.)