Rough Waters

The heart of God is to be near to His people; to bring glory and honor to His name as His faithfulness is expressed. Isaiah 41:10 provides these encouraging words:
10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

We will encounter fear-producing situations throughout the course of our existence.  And, our human tendency is to worry or be anxious for what could happen, not even what will likely occur.  The enemy uses fear to paralyze and deceive us, and we have to move beyond that paralysis to a place where we trust God with our steps, confident that He goes with us and dependent on His help.  When things are going well for us, that can be a tempting time to walk in self-reliance, when God wants us to adopt a posture of submission through all things.

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Psalm 121 reinforces the idea that God is interested in us and comes to the aid of His children, so that His glory and His hand might be seen. We read in the Psalm:
(1b) I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.

Tyler Smith and Heather Brown are seniors at Christ's Church Academy in Florida.  On their "senior skip day" a few weeks ago, they decided to go swimming in the ocean at Vilano Beach, according to a story at the CBSNews.com website.  They were going to swim toward an island, but were caught in a current.  They tried swimming toward a lighthouse, but they were being carried off to sea.  And, there were no lifeguards.  The story relates:

Desperation was settling in and exhaustion started to become a factor. They linked arms and floated together; otherwise, Brown feared, "If we kept swimming, we would have drowned." As they floated, they prayed for help.

"When we linked arms, honestly cried out to God, 'If you're out there, please send something to save us,'" Smith said. Around 30 minutes later, a boat en route from South Florida to New Jersey spotted them.

"It came out of nowhere," Brown said. "When I saw it, I knew we were getting out of here." At that point, her first thought was, "God is real."

The childhood friends, who had known each other since they were eight, were rescued by the crew on the boat.  The captain, Eric Wagner, revealed to them the name of the boat - it was the "Amen."  The teens had the chance to Facetime with Captain Wagner, who, according to Heather, felt "God sent them there."  They were not supposed to be in the area that day, but they were waiting out the rough currents.  The story states:

With graduation weeks away and college on the horizon, the teens are thanking God and Captain Wagner for their rescue.

"He obviously has a plan for us," Brown said. "We're not supposed to leave this earth yet."

This story turned out to have a happy ending, and can remind us of some sound Biblical principles.  First of all, we can remember: Don't be hesitant to cry for help.  We are not alone and we are not invincible; if we think we can make it through this life by ourselves, we are incorrect - and we don't look at God as someone who can bail us out or some sort of assistant.  He is Lord, and He calls us to surrender to Him.  The Bible teaches that He is able and available for His children.

We can also realize that God is orchestrating our circumstances and directing our steps for His glory.  There will certainly be trials and suffering is inevitable.  But, we can look to God and His wisdom in the midst of our difficulties, knowing that He has our best in mind.

This is a transitional season - there are many students who either have graduated or will be graduating from high school or college.  A good message for the graduate and for all of us: God has a plan. We were created for a purpose, and we can trust Him with our future.