More Than a Painting
When storms rise and waters rage, it is easy to feel like we are sinking. Doubts creep in. Grief weighs heavy. Faith wavers. We reach for something steady—and in that moment, Christ’s hand is there.
This is the moment Yongsung Kim captures in his breathtaking painting The Hand of God. It is one of the most beloved and recognizable stories in scripture: Peter stepping out of the boat, walking on the water, and then faltering. In his moment of fear and weakness, he begins to sink—but immediately, Jesus reaches down to save him.
The Power of Perspective
Most artists paint the story of Christ walking on water from a distance, allowing us to watch it as though we are bystanders on the shore. But Yongsung Kim saw something deeper. He wanted us to experience it as Peter himself. The Hand of God is painted from the first-person perspective, so when you stand before it, you are not outside the story. You are the one in the waves. You are the one reaching upward. And Christ is the one reaching back—steady, sure, and filled with gentle compassion.
Every time we falter. Every time life pulls us under. Every time faith feels too heavy to carry—this image reminds us that Christ’s hand is already there.
A Decade in the Making
The idea for this piece lived in Yongsung Kim’s mind for nearly ten years. He wrestled with the right composition: Should he paint the view through water and sky? Should he set the scene looking down from above?
“I imagined it would be nice to paint a scene that looks through the eyes of the viewer,” he explained in an interview. “A composition of Jesus reaching out to Peter from the gaze of Peter who was drowning.”
