Fear is the predominate obstacle to our own ability to have faith and trust in God’s providential love in the midst of hardships. Our world is inundated by fear right now. It controls our hearts and minds. Fear is seen in the crisis with oil and the price of gas, with the cost and loss of housing, with every row of goods in the grocery store as we see the prices rise before our eyes, with global terror, nuclear threats, illness of those we love or ourselves, the very word “cancer” and a list of broken relationships. The psalmist cries out in Psalm 69: “Save me O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. “I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold; “I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me.” In Matthew 14:22-33 we hear the tale of Peter trying to walk on water. The disciples were alone in the boat, a terrible storm had arisen, Jesus was walking toward them across the water like a ghost, and they were filled with fear. The storm was very real, and in that small boat they had good reason to be afraid. To see their beloved Jesus walking across the lake in the dark, in the violence of the storm, doing what was humanly impossible, must have been frightening. To try to do what is humanly impossible without God, is always frightening. Peter listens to Jesus say simply, “Come,” and he gets out of the boat in a response that defies all logic. Our boats are symbols of false security, often reflected in our bank accounts, our materialism and other unnecessary possessions. What is the boat in your life that you are afraid to get out of? What is the boat in your life that prevents you from following God’s call to come? What fear imprisons you? Peter could not walk on that water for one reason: fear. He looked around at the worldly reality of the storm, the physics of the water, the incomprehensibility of the situation, the absurdity of it all, and fear overwhelmed Peter. He began to sink. And then Peter did what we must all do. Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!” Romans 10:5-15 gives us the directions for what we must do to receive the salvation of Jesus. We must ask. We must cry out, “Jesus save me!” We must believe in our hearts, really believe, that it is Jesus who gives us life, real life, eternal life. With the assurance of eternal life and God’s direction we too can walk on water, the water that tries to drown us, the water of fear that we can rise above. The good news is that because of Jesus we can face anything that comes into our life.

Pastor Ralph