What My Fear of Water Taught Me About Trusting God | When God Calls You Beyond the Shallow Place

“And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.”
Ezekiel 47:3 KJV

When I was about seven years old, I nearly drowned while my family was on vacation. My oldest brother went under the water and saved me. I survived, but the fear did not leave when the danger passed.
All my life, I have loved water and feared it at the same time. That tension is especially meaningful because I have a condition in my legs that responds very well to water. I know the water is good for me. I know there is healing and strength available there. Yet the closer I move toward the deep, the more I can feel my anxiety rise.
So I usually stay where I can feel the bottom. I remain in the part of the pool that feels manageable, the place where I can enjoy the benefit without surrendering control.
One day, a woman who swims every day began talking with me at the pool. She said, “You know, you would get more benefit from your workouts if you learned to swim.” I knew she was right. I have known for years that lessons could help me develop the skill and confidence to go farther, but I have never been intentional about signing up.
I even discovered that when I stop fighting the water and surrender my body to it, I can float. The water can hold me. I have experienced that truth, but I still have not fully learned to trust it.
As I prepared this week’s message, the Holy Spirit showed me how often we approach Him the same way. We know His presence is good. We know He brings healing, freedom, and strength. We say we want everything God has for us. Yet when He invites us beyond the place where we can still feel the bottom, old fear can make shallow water feel like wisdom.

Set the Biblical Scene

Ezekiel received this vision while God’s people were living with the consequences of exile. The temple had been destroyed, the land had been devastated, and the future they once understood seemed gone. Into that setting, God gave Ezekiel a vision of restoration.
In Ezekiel 47, water flows from the threshold of the temple, the place of God’s presence. At first, the water reaches Ezekiel’s ankles. Then it rises to his knees, his waist, and finally becomes a river too deep to cross on foot. Wherever the river goes, dead places live. The waters are healed, fish multiply, and trees produce fruit with leaves for medicine.
The vision is first about the life-giving restoration that flows from God. For believers, it also resonates with Jesus’ words about rivers of living water and the Holy Spirit in John 7:37–39. God’s presence does not merely visit what is broken; it brings life, fruitfulness, and healing wherever it is allowed to flow.

When the Place of Healing Also Feels Frightening

Past pain can teach us to protect ourselves, even from places that now hold possibility. My fear of deep water did not come from imagination. It came from experience. But an experience that explains my fear does not have to determine the limits of my future.
This does not mean caution is unbelief. In natural water, preparation, instruction, and respect for its power are wise. The Holy Spirit, however, is not a threat to us. The danger is that history can train our hearts to respond to God’s invitation as though the past is about to repeat itself.
Sometimes what feels like spiritual discernment is actually a survival pattern. We call it being careful, but underneath it is a quiet promise: I will go only as far as I can remain in control.

Knowing Is Not the Same as Trusting

I know that water can help my legs. I know that my body can float. I know that learning to swim would allow me to receive more from every workout. But information alone has not carried me into the deep. Trust grows through relationship, practice, and intentional response.
The same is true spiritually. We can know that the Holy Spirit is our Helper and still resist His leading. We can quote Scriptures about surrender while carefully arranging our lives so that surrender is never required. We can love the river and remain at the edge of it.
God’s invitation in this season is not simply to admire what is flowing. It is to enter it.

God Leads Us Deeper With Intention

Ezekiel was not thrown into the river. He was brought through the waters. The movement was measured, directed, and progressive. That matters. Going deeper with God is not reckless impulse; it is intentional obedience.
The next step may be small enough to look like ankle-deep water: saying yes to the instruction you have postponed, rebuilding a neglected prayer rhythm, receiving help, releasing an old defense, or obeying before you feel fully confident. But every faithful step strengthens our capacity to follow Him farther.
We do not have to manufacture the river. God provides what we cannot produce. Our responsibility is to respond to what He is already doing. We must put our feet in the water and keep moving when He leads.

The River Was Never Meant to Stop With You

In Ezekiel’s vision, the river does more than refresh the person standing in it. It changes the environment around it. Dead waters become alive. Trees bear fruit continually. Their leaves become medicine.
God’s work in us is personal, but it is never meant to remain private. The deeper surrender He develops in us can become healing, nourishment, wisdom, and courage for someone else. What He restores in your life may be the very evidence another person needs in order to believe that dead places can live again.
Prepared for what is next does not mean having every answer. It means becoming responsive enough to follow the Spirit beyond what is familiar and fruitful enough to carry life wherever He sends you.

A Moment of Reflection

• Where have you remained in the shallow place because being able to feel the bottom gives you a sense of control?
• What intentional step of obedience would help you develop greater trust in the Holy Spirit’s leading this week?

Go Deeper in Prayer

This reflection grew from this week’s Monday Morning Prayer & The Word, “Put Your Feet in the Water.” Watch the replay and allow the full teaching and prayer time to help you discern where God is inviting you deeper.

Stay Connected

Join me Mondays at 8:00 a.m. CT for Monday Morning Prayer & The Word, and return to A Cup of Worship each Wednesday for a new Through the Fire reflection. Visit acupofworship.com and stay connected as we learn to enjoy His presence daily.

Final Thought

The shallow place may feel safe because you can still feel the bottom, but it cannot give you everything the river carries. You do not have to rush, pretend you are unafraid, or leap ahead of God. You only have to trust Him with the next measured step. Put your feet in the water. The One who is calling you deeper is also the One who promised, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” Isaiah 43:2 KJV

☕ A Cup of Worship
“Enjoy His Presence Daily”
Psalm 16:11