Seat belts, vitamins, bag checks. . . . Daily life is full of the precautions we take to protect ourselves. They are so common we rarely notice that they are there keeping us and our communities safe. And as technology develops, so more and more forms of self-protection appear, from antivirus software to vaccines.
Of course, we should protect ourselves from health threats and from those who would want to harm us. Still, constantly watching for danger can damage our hearts and minds. What starts as sensible self-protection can easily lead to fearfulness and self-preoccupation, limiting our willingness to take risks and look beyond ourselves. Again and again, we might see opportunities and say or think to ourselves, “No, thank you. I can’t go out. I can’t serve. I can’t lead. It’s not safe.”
This might make us feel safe, but we end up being like a hibernating dormouse curled up, inert, and malnourished. In this short article, we are going to explore ways to overcome these urges to keep saying no by looking at Jesus’s courage and the promises of God.
In Matthew 14, Jesus acts bravely. He feeds five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish (vv.15–21), and he walks on water (v. 25). Perhaps it looks to you as if these miraculous, extraordinary events are no sweat for Jesus. But consider that his divine knowledge was limited in the incarnation; he didn’t know everything. Doesn’t it seem brave to you, then, to organize a huge group of people for a picnic, when in your hands is barely enough for a couple? And to start walking onto (or would it feel like into?) a deep lake in the stormy dark? Both of these acts were a courageous choice to make himself vulnerable. Jesus could have done what his disciples suggested and sent the crowds away (v. 15), but he didn’t. He could have waited until it was light and walked around the perimeter of the lake to meet his disciples, but he didn’t. Jesus chose to do the difficult and the dangerous things, because he trusted in the Holy Spirit’s power and his Father’s word.
When I (Sarah) taught little children Bible stories a long time ago now, I used an old set of felt figures. The Jesus character was blond, and his clothes were a pristine white. Put him in any flannelgraph scene, and he stood out as different from the other felt figures, like an ad for laundry detergent. We know, though, that Jesus didn’t look different from other people (Isa. 53:2). He was a Middle Eastern man whose clothes got dirty just like everyone else’s. He didn’t just look the same, however. Jesus also experienced the same temptations. Just like you, Jesus felt the temptation to do the easier thing instead of relying on the Spirit’s power and on his Father’s word.
Perhaps you remember the time in the wilderness when Jesus was tried by Satan? There he was tempted to make bread and to throw himself in the way of danger (Matt. 4:1–7). Instead, he obeyed his Father’s commands and did not do the miracles that Satan urged. He responded to Satan’s challenges with Scripture. In these new challenges of crowds and storms, courageous obedience meant doing the miracles out of love. He chose to multiply bread and to walk on dangerous water because he cared for his people.
By remaining faithful to Scripture’s commands and patterns, Jesus demonstrated courage. In providing a miraculous meal, he followed his Father’s example. Again and again in the Old Testament, God had produced food for those who were hungry, first in the form of manna and quail for the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16) and then for Elijah (1 Kings 17:2–16). He also provided for Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 2:17–18; 3:15) and for David (1 Sam. 25:18–20) through the providential generosity of others. What’s more, in Isaiah 55, God called out “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, / and delight yourselves in rich food,” connecting the image of free abundant food with his satisfying word and the promise of new life (v. 2). On the hillside, then, as Jesus taught and thanked God for the food before distributing it, he was not only obeying God but also fulfilling Scripture, showing himself to be the God who provides life-bringing bread. Even more amazingly, he was pointing to the truth that he himself is the bread of life (John 6:35).
When Jesus walks on water he is following his Father’s pattern in a similar way. The Lord had overruled the waters of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:15–22) and the Jordan River (Josh. 3:14–17). He promised his people that when they “pass through the waters . . . they will not sweep over you” (Isa. 43:2 NIV) and is described as the one who stills the storm (Pss. 89:8–9; 107:28–29). Jesus shows that he is the powerful Lord, but he also acts as a vulnerable man—in fact, he acts as Israel, that very vulnerable nation of weak people. Jesus represents the people of God who should trust, take courage, and obey. Having taken on the form of the lowest kind of man, a servant, Christ humbled himself and obeyed (Phil. 2:6–8). This was the opposite of self-protection. Jesus trusted in his Father’s power to protect him as he stepped out in faithful obedience.
In this, Jesus gives us not only an example to follow, but the source of the courage we all need to follow him. Peter cried, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (Matt. 14:28). Peter was astonished at his Master on the sea, and longed to come out to meet him. Could he defy the water as Jesus did? This story isn’t about how one man went to his local lake to break the laws of nature. It’s about how we are supposed to fix our eyes on Jesus and trust in him totally, even when in our own strength we would sink. The Lord is for you and will uphold you, whatever your circumstances.
Excerpted from Resilient Faith by Lewis and Sarah Allen, ©2023. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
