Footing in Deep Water

In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, after every battle and valley and temptation, Christian arrives at the final obstacle before the Celestial City — a deep, dark river with no bridge. There is no way around it. He must walk through.

As he wades in, the waters rise and terror overtakes him. He cries out that he is sinking, that the sorrows of death have compassed him about. His companion Hopeful, walking the same river, calls back words that have echoed for three and a half centuries: "Be of good cheer, my brother. I feel the bottom, and it is good."

Same river. Same darkness. But Hopeful had footing because he trusted the One who waited on the far shore. And when Christian finally remembered the promises of Christ, Bunyan tells us he too found ground beneath his feet, and the rest of the crossing became shallow.

Some of you are standing at a river like that right now — a diagnosis, a fractured relationship, a future you cannot see. The water is real. The fear is real. But the God of All Comfort has not left you without footing. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Almighty promised, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you" (Isaiah 43:2).

Faith does not drain the river. Faith finds the bottom. And the bottom is good.