But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” Matthew 14:30 (NKJV)

When I think of great examples of God’s faithfulness I think about the time when Peter was walking on water towards Jesus.  I personally think that Peter was probably surrounded by massive waves as the wind was raging, and he began to fear for his safety.  His boat was probably beginning to sink, so he cried out the shortest prayer recorded in the Bible – “Lord save me!”  Peter knew whom he must call upon to be saved.  

It seems pretty simple when you read the story, and we should definitely glean how we can count on God when we are sinking in our own choices we’ve made.  Bad choices are at the root of many of our personal crises, and we are responsible for those choices. But all too often, we would rather sink with our bad decisions because of our pride, rather than to simply ask for help, or we may even refuse help when it is being offered to us.  

I guess it comes down to whether or not we want to do what God would want us to do in each situation.  Will we say, “Yes Lord” when we are given wise counsel through His Word? If we choose to do it our way then we should probably acknowledge our choices will probably compound our problems and make them worse.  

Doing things our way rather than God’s is a sickness in our flesh called pride.  It can be very dangerous, and even deadly.  The good news is that God can heal us of this affliction if we cry out to Him as Peter did and simply say, “Lord, save me!”God has already given us the prescription for our pride within His Word — we are to humble ourselves, repent, and choose to obey Him.  It is our choice whether we receive it or continue to sink deeper.  Satan will do whatever he can to deceive us into choosing to ignore God’s will for our lives. 

Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the LORD.Jeremiah 9:6 (NKJV)

I want to encourage you today to talk to God.  Ask Him to show you anything you might be doing in your life against His will—anything not in alignment with His Word.  You don’t have to be strong enough to stop doing this stuff on your own. You just have to be humble and willing enough to allow God to empower you with the strength and ability of His Holy Spirit.   Whatever you do, don’t try to do it on your own (John 15:5; Phil. 4:13), but simply be willing to cry out, “Lord save me!”