This summer I’ve been trying to teach my daughter to swim. She’s terrified of deeper water, however. In fact, one day after many lessons and hours of practice, I challenged her to wade out with me to a deeper area of the pool. We both could still touch the bottom, yet she screamed, “Why are you doing this to me?”

To be honest, I was startled by her reaction. How did asking for a few more steps cause this kind of outburst? Yet as I held her close while stuffing down my own hurt feelings, the strangest words came out of my mouth. “Because I love you.” I said it to her again and again. And then it struck me how much this reflects times we all have with God.

In love, God often wants to grow us by teaching us something new. But we fight against it. We let fear overtake the moment. We even turn on Him in frustration and anger because we don’t recognize His challenge as love. When God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, all Moses had to do was lift his staff and point it over the water for it to part (see Exodus 14:21). At that time, his actions demonstrated enormous faith. Yet when Joshua was ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, it meant crossing the Jordan River. This time God commanded Israel’s priests to “go and stand in the river” before the waters would part (Joshua 3:8).

God required more.

God gave them something new for them to do not because He wanted them to fear. Rather, He wanted them to overcome fear and grow. The same is true for us too. If we stay stuck in the shallow kiddie pools of life, how will we ever learn to swim in deeper waters? And if we choose to let fear rule, how will we ever truly know God’s strong arms of protection, His trustworthiness, and most importantly, the joy in His enduring and ever-propelling love?

*First published by The Joyful Life Magazine.