Week Twenty-seven Question: Back to the Beach

Are you painfully disturbed just now, distracted by the waves and billows of God’s providential permission, and having, as it were, turned over the boulders of your belief, are you still finding no well of peace or joy or comfort; is all barren? Are you looking unto Jesus now, in the immediate matter that is pressing and receiving from Him peace?

“Reflected peace is the proof that you are right with God because you are at liberty to turn your mind to Him. Lay it all out before Him, and in the face of difficulty, bereavement and sorrow, hear Him say, ‘Let not your heart be troubled.’” - Chambers August 26

My Response:

         Am I being not just distracted by the waves but swamped by them? Has the current of this storm pulled me away instead of toward His peace? Have I wanted to go back to the beach of the world instead of out to the deep with God?

          I’d like you to think about the ocean. Personally, I have great respect for its unpredictable power. One of the reasons relates to an experience I had a few years back. A friend of mine invited my children and I to come and stay with her at the shore for a few days. The weather was unbelievable – a perfect beach day. The waves were gently rolling as the gulls dipped effortlessly below the surface for a snack.

         Being someone who did not have a lot of experience with the ocean, I stood on the shoreline for what seemed like hours, watching my friends bob up and down in the waves, relaxing, and having a good time. However, in the mean time I was getting battered on the shoreline. The waves were breaking hard against my legs, making me feel like they were trying to push me down and suck me in.

          Well, my friends must have gotten tired of watching me staggering back and forth in about a foot and a half of water, so they came and got me and took me out to where the water came up to about my neck. I stayed really close to my one friend, but after I relaxed a little and she showed me how to jump up when the waves came, I started to have a really nice time. The hot sun, warm water, good friends, manageable waves. It was great.

          Then I saw it - the biggest wave I had seen all day and it was coming right for us. I remember asking my friend how to jump over this one. She just smiled and said, “No jumping over this one. We need to go under it.” I looked at her, looked at the wave and said, “I think I’ll go in now.” She said that I didn’t have time and to relax - it was easy.

          I put my arms around her neck and clung on for dear life. I was terrified. What did she mean go under the wave? But since I trusted her and trusted she knew what to do and wouldn’t let me drown, I listened to what she said.

          When the wave came, she said, “Now!” and both of us went under the water. The giant wave simply went over us. We came up on the other side, and I watched the wave roll toward the shore knocking the standing people over as it went. I was amazed. I never would have thought of it. To me, going under a wave didn’t seem like an option.

          So why tell this story? I wanted to bring you to an analogy. Imagine a person standing on the beach. This person represents us as we stand before the Christian life as we come to the unlimited majesty of Almighty God. The water represents being baptized into the Christian life. The distance to which we are willing to go out towards the invisible horizon and the depth we are willing reach represents our walk and the level of our commitment to God.

          You see, as I stood on the shoreline that day at the beach, I was in no danger of drowning. I could stand on my own two feet, and I could get out of the water without much trouble. But near the shoreline is where the waves break. It’s also where the current seems strongest, pulling and pushing you back and forth as the water yanks at your feet. If you stand there long enough, not only will your feet will begin to sink into the sand like anchors, but you will get really tired with all the waves breaking on you.

          I spent a lot of time metaphorically on the beach in my Christian life. I was in the water, I was saved, but because my trust of God was limited and because there was no real depth or grounding to my understanding of His nature, I was afraid to venture out to a place of uncertainty. I would inwardly laugh when I’d hear Christians recite the verse: Come to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. What rest I’d say; I’m exhausted. But there was always this gentle voice calling me towards the deep.

          So you decide you’re tired of living on the shoreline and venture out a little deeper. You get past the breakers and find that you’re up to your neck, hanging out -managing the waves like I did. You decide it’s nicer out here, no pushing and pulling, much easier, floating around jumping over small waves. You think, “This is what God must have wanted and what he had meant when he called me deeper.” You might even be tempted to think, “Even though I can still stand on my own feet, I’m much deeper than I used to be, and I'm certainly much deeper than those people over there on the shore.”

          As you start to get your confidence up, you suddenly see a really big wave rolling towards you. You start to panic. “God, you never said anything about waves this big. What am I supposed to do? I can’t jump over this one myself; I think I’ll just head back to the shore where it’s safer.”

          But through your panic and doubt, you hear the Lord whisper, “There isn’t time; just hang onto Me and I’ll take you through this trial because if you allow me, I am going to take you even deeper.” Well, you ignore that last part and because honestly you don’t have any other options, you put your trust in the Lord and of course, He brings you through. You are amazed that God has sustained you out here in the deep the way He did. You might even tell your friends the same way I told you about how I made it through the big one.

          But there is still a problem. Some people stay here in their Christian lives. They get to a place of trusting God, a place of learning, living deeper than they used to, even getting through some big trials, but for whatever reason, they decide not to go any deeper.

          But the Spirit’s voice will always call us on to a place of unnatural depth because it is there that we must totally depend on the supernatural sustaining power of God. And it is only in that state of total dependence that we will be able to form a consistent, lasting intimate dependence on the Father.

          Now, picture yourself answering the call to go deeper. You start to swim out to where you cannot stand on your own anymore. You have left most of your friends behind, so there is no one to grab onto when you get tired. You decide to tread water for as long as you can and resist the Spirit’s urging to just let go and sink into the depth of the Father’s love and care.

          You finally come to the end of your strength and release yourself into God’s hands. When you go under the water, you immediately notice that the world appears much different than on the surface - the noise of the world is muffled and distant. The burning hot sun is diffused and cooled. You hold your breath for as long as you can, but your lungs are ready to burst. You see, in a natural sense, your body was not made to exist beneath the water, just as your old man, your natural man, cannot sustain you in the deep of your Christian life.

At this point you have three choices -

1) Go back to the surface where you can breathe on your own and spend your life treading water, never enjoying the intense pleasure and rest that comes from living in the deep.

2) Go back to the shallow water and spend your life getting slammed by life’s trials, being pushed and pulled by the world’s current 

3) Listen to the voice that tells you to lean into the breath of God where to live is to depend upon His life-giving grace; respond to the call that urges you to lean into the intimate sustaining embrace that is hidden from those who exist on the surface, and discover the joyful worship that springs up from the depths of your inner man.

Dear Child, listen to His voice – especially when the waves are the highest and the storms are the greatest. Go deeper. Let not your heart be troubled.