When I was a young child, I despised putting my head under the water. My parents put me into swimming lessons to try and teach me it was OK to be in the water if I learned how to do it safely.
I remember a lot of crying and fear because the instructors would try to get me to put my head under the water. I was terrified of drowning, and I understood that under the water was bad because I couldn’t breathe. It took me years to gain the confidence to be in the water unafraid.
One summer, there was a young boy who was my instructor. He was different from any of the other instructors I had over the years. He actually got in the water with me, held my hand and did the activities with me.
When it came time to put my head under the water, he held my hand and went under with me. Somehow, having someone right there with me doing the same things made me feel safe.
As soon as I saw another kid put their head under the water right next to me and saw he was OK, I was never really afraid again. It took a personal touch to help me overcome my fears.
Jesus walked with the disciples and people for three and a half years of dedicated ministry on this earth. During that time, He did something no other religious leader had done: He literally walked with the people, ate with them, slept near them and laughed and cried with them. He was God incarnate, living and ministering to the people.
One evening after a long day of ministering to the people, Jesus was exhausted, both physically and spiritually, so He sent the disciples away to go across the lake. It was evening, and Jesus went up into the hills to spend time praying to God.
Jesus needed time to reconnect with God so He could continue to minister to the people. After He spent time praying, He looked and saw the disciples struggling in the boat on the lake in a great storm. Jesus walked out to them on the water. At first, the disciples panicked and weren’t sure what they were seeing. But Jesus quickly revealed that it was Him and there was no need to fear. Peter, the ever-impetuous one, quickly responded.
Matt. 14:28–31 shares, “‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ He said, ‘why did you doubt?’”
Peter was so eager and filled with such great faith in Jesus that he hopped out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Him. It was miraculous and amazing, and for a moment Peter had his eyes fixed perfectly on Jesus, but then something happened. Peter forgot who he was with and let fear take over.
He looked around, saw the storm and the waves and immediately began to sink into the water. Nothing had changed, except his focus. Jesus hadn’t disappeared and left him alone. The storm was no greater at that moment than before; the waves were the same size as they'd been the whole time. The only thing that changed was Peter’s focus. He took his eyes off Jesus and suddenly began to sink.
Jesus promises that He will never leave us and never turn His back on us. Instead, He is always there desiring to hold our hand and help us see it will be OK. Waves will still crash around us; there will be scary things in this life. Sometimes we will have to put our faces in the water for a moment, but Jesus is still there holding our hand.
We have a personal, loving, involved Savior in Jesus. He experienced the challenges of life on this planet and felt all the results of sin we deal with. Jesus’ desire is that we will not forget that He is with us.
Jesus, God and the angels use the phrase “fear not” more than 365 times in the Bible. That’s enough promises for each day of the year. When we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we have nothing to fear because we remember He is always with us.
Jesus desires that we keep our eyes fixed on Him. Take His hand and remember that He will walk with us through the storms. We don’t need to fear drowning when we are holding our Savior’s hand.
