We experienced several storms, were becalmed for 24 hours, during which time a Sperm Whale happily swam past us. We were accompanied by a large pod of dolphins for several hours, an unforgettable break from sea-sickness and wild weather.
I was on watch at midnight during the third night at sea, when another violent storm broke over us; we were far from the coast, and being blown further out to sea. Sitting at the helm, unable to see the sails or bow, trying to hold course, with towering waves roaring down from behind is unnerving, and not something that I would happily repeat!
The six hours from midnight until dawn were the longest in my life, particularly when the skipper came on deck and told me that he was unsure where we were, as we had been blown off the charts! Wearing every piece of clothing that I had and warped in a blanket trying to keep warm, I remember thinking, at about 3:00 am when the body and spirit is at it lowest ebb, "So this is how it ends Lord, lost at sea"!There was only one thing that kept me focused and able to carry out the task at hand. Every-now-and-again the light-beam from one of two distant lighthouses would penetrate the stygian darkness, silently informing me that we had not sailed off the edge of the world. Those little intermittent flashes of light were, to me, more impressive, and welcome than a $500,000 fireworks display.
God's word is like those lighthouse beacons, able to penetrate the darkest "night of the soul".
The psalmist, Heman the Ezrahite put it this way in Psalm 88... O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Psalm 88:1-4 KJV Read the entire psalm here
This Psalm is likely the "darkest" psalm, the writer takes aim at God for not answering his cries for help, and what believer has not experienced that! God never abandons us, but we can genuinely feel that He has, during our dark hours. Such psalms as this, and other "negative" psalms e.g. 2 and 13 serve to remind us all that life is often stormy, and that as we grow in Christ and mature as believers God allows us to grapple with the hard issues, we have to "faith it out".
As believers we are called/expected to live by faith: But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. Galatians 3:11 KJV
The Greek word for faith is pists and it's meaning implies a conviction of the truth of a matter, particularly in relation to the existence of God.
During the dark hours that we all experience, when the soul/human spirit is storm-tossed, when all seems lost, we can "faith" God. Our life is in God, for outside of him, if we try to live by works or the law there is no life. Quoting Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible- The condition of life is faith: and he lives who believes. The meaning is not, I apprehend, that the man who is justified by faith shall live, but that life is promised and exists only in connection with faith, and that the just or righteous man obtains it only in this way.
It is during those dark/difficult times that faith is.... what it claims to be, FAITH
Faith is without doubt the single most important component of the Christian life. Some say that faith is the opposite of doubt; it's much more than that, doubt is NOT not believing, doubt is only questioning something, that may or may not exist.Hebrews 11:6 states, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." NIV
No comments:
Post a Comment