“Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.'”
“And He said, ‘Come!'”  (Matthew 14:28-29)

Can you imagine the gall that Peter had, to make this outrageously brash request of Jesus?  But even more, WHY in the world would Jesus indulge such a foolish request? The obvious thing to do would have been to lecture Peter on how he should not test  God, or make foolhardy requests — not to GRANT the outlandish request!

But whatever Jesus’ reasons were for granting Peter’s petition, it definitely shows us the power of a request to God. He can do anything, and there are times when, for whatever reason, He seems to delight in answering some of our most “outrageous” prayers.

This is just another in a long list of scripture passages which give us encouragement to  ask:  “Ask and it shall be given to you.” (Matthew 7:7) “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive.” (John 16:24) “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10)

Are there times when what we ask for is not good, and God will not grant the request? Sure. And one day we will know that He was wise and right for not granting what we asked. And we have no shortage of helpful “armchair theologians” who are adept at explaining why we should not ask for this request or that.

But this passage also reminds us that we never know until we ask. We are not toying with a mere human dignitary, like a President or Governor, who is limited in what He can do. This is the Lord of the Universe, who spoke it all into being with a word. We aren’t going to insult Him by asking for too much. In fact, if the truth be known, in light of God’s power and sovereignty, perhaps we most insult Him when we ask too little.  Perhaps we should learn to make much more “outrageous” requests than we do!