If you’ve been in the Christian community in the last year or so, no doubt you’ve heard Hillsong United’s “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)”. It’s truly a beautiful song, with a deeply personal meaning for a lot of people. It’s a great testament to faith, to answering God’s call.
This week I had a very different perspective on this song.
Yes, the song is about God calling us out to Him, to follow, to obey, much like Peter asked Jesus to prove Himself by calling Peter out onto the water.
In Matthew 14, we read the account of Jesus coming to the disciples in the storm.
In verse 28 Peter asks Jesus to call him onto the water if it’s truly Jesus out there.
In verse 29, Jesus simply says, “Come.”
And in verse 30, we read that Peter noticed the wind, his faith faltered and he began to sink.
Verse 31 finds Jesus reaching out his hand to Peter, saying, “You of little faith…why did you doubt?”
He gave up trusting God when he noticed his surroundings.
Let me be very honest and straightforward here: Sometimes life is just plain hard.
I fully believe God knows that. I truly believe that He calls us all to hard places at times, and I’m aware that none of us may fully understand the path of another.
Over the past few years, I’ve found myself in trying, desperate situations not of my doing. Life has been just plain hard.
Like Peter, I’ve found myself noticing the winds around me - being caught up in the storms.
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now
So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
I’ve found myself “where feet may fail and fear surrounds me”.
I’ve always considered this song from Peter’s perspective - with part of his body above the water, looking up at Jesus.
Recently, though, my perspective has changed a little.
I’m sure you’ve seen the image on a TV show or movie, where a person is caught in the crash of a huge wave. For a short time the person is under the water, having to ride out the surge. Sometimes they frantically fight the wave, desperate to get above the water.
Other times, though, they give up on the fight and just ride out the wave, trusting that if they are to make it back up to the top, they will.
And it’s in that ultimate giving up that we truly open ourselves to what God has.
That’s where I’ve found myself.
I’ve stopped fighting the storm, I’m letting the wave carry me.
And do you know what?
I can still look up.
I can…
keep my eyes above the waves.
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine.
The hand of Jesus is still there. He is still in control. He is still guiding my life for His purposes.
Sometimes the storms come and we can realize that our faith needs to be strengthened.
Other times the storms and waves come to wash something out of our lives, to renew us and make us clean.
And still other times, the storm may serve to move us from where we are to where God wants us to be next.
I don’t know why He sends the storms. I don’t know why we have to deal with the battering of yet another struggle in life.
But I do know this:
God is the One who will make a way. He is faithful - He has been and will continue to be.
What if, just for today, you stopped fighting?
Stop fighting to get back above the surface.
Trust God. Trust the One who created you.
Trust that He has a plan for your life.
Then just lie back and let Him hold you.
And just like Peter and the others in the boat, we’ll be able to say, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”
If you are struggling in your situation,
I’d love to share these gifts of hope that have made a difference in my life.
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Wow, did I ever need to read your blog this morning! I have been battling 2 separate illnesses since 2010/2011 and it has been a hard, painful and frustrating journey. I have been to Doctor after Doctor, 1 was diagnosed and 1 they are still trying to figure out what it is after 3 and a half yrs! I live in constant pain and lately, even though I am a Christian, I had about given up. When I opened my email this morning, there you were with the words I needed to hear. I do need to relinquish my battle for answers, hold tight to my faith and lie back and let Jesus hold me above the waves. Thank you Jesus and thank you Rebekah. God Bless you.
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Rebekah Reply:
September 18th, 2015 at 6:49 am
This has been such a full week for me; I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I have been praying for you this week, though - that God would give you rest, ease of pain, and peace in His will! Thank you for taking time to share your heart here!
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Your blog this morning was truly inspiring and lifted me up from the doldrums!! Last week I had a minor “breakdown” and couldn’t stop crying most of the whole day. I have been going through a tough time for about 4 years. I not only have some chronic health problems, but have the problem of a cluttered, messy house, which majorly upsets me. I have always, always had a clean and well-organized home, even with 5 children. The kids are grown and rarely visit, so you would think I would have no problems at all.
25 years ago God told us to “sell everything and go” and instead we stored everything, and went to Eastern Europe as missionaries in the Czech Republic. My problem is the last 4 years have been a major nightmare for us, and I believe God is maybe “putting a little pressure” on us to be more obedient. This has been the hardest thing in my life ever, to go through all my possessions and eliminate it all. He told me to “do it as if you died,” and as of now I have hauled 22 car loads to Christian thrift stores and donated it. But the problem is I can’t seem to get rid of the things we are currently using as well as some keepsakes (so it doesn’t meet the criteria of “all”). I know God does not tell everyone to “sell everything,” but I heard it clearly. I tried to ignore the “everything” word for many years, and always tried to get rid of the excess. My husband had agreed back then to do this, yet he now believes God will not hold us to it 25 years later, so is not willing to part with his stuff. He felt called to be a minister years back, but then decided he couldn’t do it. He preached in tent meetings in Czech, and I knew it was the Holy Spirit doing the preaching because he was using words I knew he didn’t know and it seemed as though the things he was saying were coming directly from God. In the last 12 years we have been having some marital problems, and I have always believed the enemy is trying to separate us so we cannot fulfill God’s calling on our lives…and I do believe He has a calling for us.
God called us to a new life here in another state 11 years ago, far away from our 5 children and our grandkids, which has been really tough on me, but I guess I have learned to live with it finally. We should have eliminated everything then, but didn’t.
Over the years we have had numerous Bible studies in our home, and have always felt blessed by these, but the last 4 years we seem to be going through a dry period in our lives, and life has become almost a nightmare for both of us. For me, I cannot get my home organized as it has always been, and that has always been a priority because I have always had an “open door” to anyone who wanted to come over for counseling or just to talk or visit.
Another big problem that would help my health is I have tried to lose some weight. After losing several pounds (yep-4 years ago), I have been on a plateau for these 4 years and can’t lose anything no matter how much or little I eat, and I have really worked at it.
Another strange problem that has came about these last 4 years is I cannot cook or bake anything that turns out well; I have always loved cooking and baking, especially to bless others.
Another problem is we have been searching for 10 years to find a house to buy that we can afford (we rent). To sum it all up, I can’t seem to make ANYTHING IN MY LIFE WORK!! Frustration has set in many times because nothing works, and that is what caused my little breakdown last week. I am truly seeking God as much as I can, but some days He seems so far away, even though I know he is right here beside me. We seem to be in a “wilderness” situation. I just want things to work in my life as they did before when we lived in our home state, and I want God to speak to us in that “still small voice” that we once heard so beautifully, and I want my life to “count” for God. I apologize for writing so much, but I am truly seeking answers for my life, yet I do know God is the only answer, and I will trust him even when I feel I can’t go on. Thank you for writing this!! God bless you!
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I really needed this today, thank you!
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