Matthew 14:29-30

Pres. Hunter said, “It is my firm belief that if as individual people, as families, communities, and nations, we could, like Peter, fix our eyes on Jesus, we too might walk triumphantly over ‘the swelling waves of disbelief’ and remain ‘unterrified amid the rising winds of doubt.’ But if we turn away our eyes from him in whom we must believe, as it is so easy to do and the world is so much tempted to do, if we look to the power and fury of those terrible and destructive elements around us rather than to him who can help and save us, then we shall inevitably sink in a sea of conflict and sorrow and despair” (“The Beacon in the


Matthew 14:25. “In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them”

When we expect the Lord will give us quick solutions to our problems, we fail to see the greater purpose in the delay of His aid. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of a personal trial he faced for which there was no quick solution from the Lord:

“Though I suffered then, as I look back now, I am grateful that there was not a quick solution to my problem. The fact that I was forced to turn to God for help almost daily over an extended period of years taught me truly how to pray and get answers to prayer and taught me in a very practical way to have faith in God. I came to know my Savior and my Heavenly Father in a way and to a degree that might not have happened otherwise or that might have taken me much longer to achieve. … I learned to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I learned to walk with Him day by day” (“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread” [Church Educational System fireside, Jan. 9, 2011], LDS.org).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said the following about the Savior’s awareness of His disciples’ toil to cross the Sea of Galilee in the storm:

“From the mountaintop where he prayed … , Jesus saw the peril and strugglings of his beloved friends as they sought the safety of the western shore of the Galilean lake. … His awareness of their plight must have come by the power of the Spirit rather than the natural eye, for they were more than four—perhaps were five or six—miles away. …

“… In some eight or ten hours they traveled less than four miles from the shore.

“Their peril was great. Even strong men cannot resist indefinitely the battering waves and the rolling power of a storm at sea. It was now the fourth watch of the night, sometime between three and six A.M. Jesus had left them to struggle and toil till their strength was spent. Now he came to the rescue” (The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. [1979–81], 2:358–59).Harbor of Peace,” Ensign, Nov. 1992, 19).