DANGER and RISK: The Difference

So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. (Mathew 14:29 NKJ)

Joyce Meyer once said,

“Those who try to hang on when God is trying to move on will always be miserable.”

In Mathew 14, the disciples are attacked by the storm while at sea, and it tosses and swings around the boat they are in. The water fills the boat and all they do is to scoop it out, an exercise that actually doesn’t yield any success. They are stuck and all they are left with is to drown. They can’t get out of the boat because it is dangerous to swim through the turbulent waters. So what they do is to stay in the drowning boat.

Lo and behold Jesus shows up walking on the very turbulent waters and issues an open invitation that said: ‘Come’. None of them is willing until Peter takes a leap of faith and steps out of the boat. And when he does, he walks safely on the water to Jesus while leaving the 11 guys struggling with a sinking boat without Jesus.

The difference between Peter and the 11 disciples is in their analysis of the situation. Peter knows we are going to die anyway, so why not die trying? Secondly, the disciples differ with Peter in their definition of RISK and DANGER. Peter sees Danger in the boat, but the other disciples see, Danger out of the boat.

You see, Danger and Risk are two words that are often confused due to the similarity in their meanings. However, there is a difference between the two words. The difference between the two words is like that between Probability and Possibility. Probability is when something can be quantified but a possibility, on the other hand, is something that is qualitative.

When we say something is dangerous, we are saying by all means messing with it is hazardous and/or harmful. However, to say that it is risky, we are emphasizing a probability of success as well loss. The word danger is used in the sense of ‘catastrophe’ but the word risk is used in the sense of ‘chance.’ Even if we looked at both of the words negatively, the key difference between risk and danger is: Danger is the possibility of damage, while Risk is the probability of damage occurring.

Let me give you an example, there is a possibility to get an unwanted pregnancy and disease if you had sex without a condom and a probability of not contacting all that if you used a condom. That is why unprotected sex is dangerous, not just risky. We should stop confusing the two.

It was this confusion of risk and danger that kept all the disciples put in a sinking boat. They thought that it was dangerous to trust a Jesus walking on the waters and just a risk to stay in a drowning boat. The truth, however, was, it was the boat that was dangerous because by all means it was going to sink and there was a probability that they could as well walk on the turbulent waters just as the Jesus who invited them did. In life, there are things that are holding us but we know in they eventually are going to break.

There are times when God wants to take us to the next level in our lives, but we hesitate because of fear, uncertainty and sometimes due to right reasons. At these moments, we are between two worlds – one in which we understand, and the other that is beyond our comprehension. Instead of launching out in faith, we tend to linger where we feel comfortable and secure though not growing. In doing so, we miss the exciting destiny that God has for us.

We can never grasp the future blessings if we are still clasping on to past achievements. Peter was stuck in the boat with other 11 fellow disciples. Though they knew the boat was being hit by the storm and was going to sink, for some reason, they were afraid of the invitation to walk on turbulent waters out of the sinking boat.

The problem most Christians run into when facing this critical breaking point is that instead of tapping into the Lord’s power for a breakthrough, they depend on their own limited strength, statistics, traditions and end up in a breakdown. I have always told people at my fellowship that there is nothing as dangerous as something that works but without growth, challenge and progress.

For the twelve disciples, the boat, though sinking, was safer than any of them exposing themselves directly into the troubled waters. For them, that wasn’t just a RISK but a DANGER to walk on waters to a Jesus they have never seen walk on waters. I think many of us get stuck in drowning boats and breaking boxes because we don’t know the difference between a Risk and a Danger.

Because we don’t want to be the first in history to do a thing, because we don’t want to be different. We get stuck in there and remain ordinary for there is no pressure in being the same. Peter decided to step out of the boat and became the only man in the history of humanity to have walked on water.

We get stuck in these boats and boxes even though we know how vulnerable they are. These could be economic boats and boxes, maybe it is a salary that makes you think involving yourself in business is dangerous. Or it is an abusive relationship but you are afraid of living life without them because of all they have, I don’t know what your boat or box is, but I want you to understand that there is no growth in the boat. The box that you are stuck in might be safe but it is very limiting. You need to stop living with possibilities and start dealing with probabilities. You need start trying things out, failing is not a danger, it is just a risk, so get this straight, failing to do things because you know you will fail is failure already. Get out of the boat like Peter did.

Listen to me my friend, all the people that I have seen die, they have struggled, and all I have gathered from this horrible experience is that we should all die trying. Remember, there is a difference between a danger and a risk, make sure you do not confuse your risky opportunity to be a danger and neither should you confuse your danger to be a risky opportunity. Get things right.

What is your boat? When are you stepping out of it? Are you really sure it is dangerous outside there or the danger is actually here with you? Get stepping out of that safe for now but gradually drowning boat. Your parents will not be here forever and neither will your job. Your spouse might not be sole bread-winner forever, things change my dear, change, therefore, before they change and you can’t fit in the new setting. Get the difference between a DANGER and a RISK right, or else you will stay in there forever.

God Bless you, I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH

Pr. ITM White

The Gospel Hawker