“But God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and sound judgment.”

2 Timothy 1:7

I suppose it would be safe to say that we all have fears. All my life I have dealt with the fear of heights. I remember as a young child, I would not slide down a sliding board because my fear kept me from climbing the ladder. It was a paralyzing fear, a debilitating fear, that would not allow me to participate in so many activities.

A few years ago Teresa and I were in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We were looking for some sight-seeing spots in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and were told of Seven Falls, a majestic waterfall which cascaded down a mountainside twisting and turning through seven twists and turns. A staircase had been built which would take one from the bottom of the falls all the way to the top. Upon beginning the trek up that staircase, I did fine for a while, but when we were about half way to the top, I completely froze. I suppose it was because I glanced down, and realized how high we had climbed.

Paralyzed! Stricken with fear. Unable to move. Gripping the handrail so tightly it probably still has my fingerprints engraved in the metal. Thankfully, Teresa, with love and patience, was finally able to talk me into going back down. I have no idea how long it took me to walk back down that staircase. I was shaking with fear, almost to the point of total helplessness. Carefully, cautiously, slowly, painstakingly, I was able to make it down.

I know what fear is, and how it can affect us if we give ourselves over to its paralyzing power. And, we are all prone to experience episodes of fear. There is one graphic example of the power of fear in Scripture that illustrates just how quickly and easily we can become tangled in the tentacles of fear. In Matthew’s Gospel, we have the story of Jesus walking on the water. As He approached the boat in which the disciples were, we have the following conversation between Peter and Jesus:

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.” He [Jesus] said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Matthew 14:28-30

A very familiar story, to be sure. Before I speak about Peter’s fear, let’s make sure we take a moment to note a couple of extremely important elements in the story. First, Peter is the only one who got out of the boat! His faith enabled him to overcome the fear of stepping off the solid footing of the boat, onto the surface of the stormy sea. He actually walked on the water. Second, after allowing himself to be overcome with fear as he gazed around at the crashing waves, he walked back to the boat with Jesus. The other disciples were obviously stricken by their fear of trying to walk on the surface of the water. So, let’s be sure to give Peter credit for his act of faith.

But, between his act of walking out toward Jesus, and then his act of walking back to the boat with Jesus, is that small matter of his epic failure. The text tells us that he took his eyes off Jesus and began gazing at the stormy sea. He immediately began to sink, allowing his fear to momentarily rob him of his faith. Jesus, acting immediately at Peter’s cry for help, reached out, took Peter by the hand, and said what had to be a spiritual gut-punch to Peter:

“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:31

Please note that Jesus did not reprimand Peter for no faith, but for his little faith. His faith had enabled him to get out of the boat, but was not enough to enable him to go the distance. Many, perhaps most of us can relate to that. We have, by faith, gotten out of the boat – whatever that boat might have been – and have walked by our faith for a while. But then, storms of different shapes and sizes and intensities took our eyes off Jesus, and we began to sink into the miry pit of little faith. We found the circumstances to be intimidating, daunting, and seemingly insurmountable. Instead of keeping our eyes on Jesus, we allowed those circumstances to rob us of our faith.

I would like to simply encourage each of us to keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the author and finisher of our faith. Life is filled with eventualities that will quickly rob us of our faith, put us into a state of panic and fear, and lock us into a self-imposed prison of despair.

I’ll close this week with a quote from Vance Havner: “It’s hard to be optimistic when you have a misty optic.” When our eyes of faith have become clouded with the cares of this world – whether it be a personal problem or a world-wide pandemic – we become overwhelmed with eyes of fear. That fear will paralyze us if we allow it to take control. We can be optimistic, remembering that God is sovereignly on the throne, and all things are working according to His plan. For the believer in Jesus Christ, the cares of this world are not worthy of being compared to the glory set before us. In the temporariness of the trials and troubles of this life, let’s remember: the best is yet to come! Even so, come Lord Jesus!