He still speaks to the waves

Have you ever been just going through your day to day routine, rolling with the punches, trying to keep your head up above it all, and you don't even realize how everything you are going through is affecting you until you sit down and begin to talk about it?  And suddenly, though you didn't even see it coming, you are in tears?  It's like the flood gates open up and you find that the more you talk about it, the more you begin to realize how afraid and worried you have been.

You begin to question how long it has been since you called worry by its ugly name and confessed it to God and sought his help.  Worry is a terrible vision clouder and faith blocker.  It creeps up on the best of us.  I have often made the distinct choice not to worry and instead to trust.  But life is full of the new, the unexpected, and the uncertain.  It's not easy for us to humbly depend on God.  Because of all that we can't see, we forget that he sees all.  We forget that he has seen all since the beginning of time.

Our worry makes us feel like we are drowning.  It's like we cannot gain a foothold.  We are so frantically trying to stay above the waves that we have lost our focus on the One who calms them.

Lately, I have been reflecting on Psalm 77.  I keep going back to it because one of the questions that the psalmist asks there made such an impression on my heart...

"Has God forgotten to be gracious?"

If you read this psalm, you will see that this man was so greatly troubled that he couldn't sleep at night.  He was really going through it.  And whenever we are really going through it we struggle with how we think about God.  It's easy to say "God is so good!" when things are going well.  But sometimes the things that happen in our lives can cause us to question so much.  We may never even articulate it but we feel shaken, daunted and upset.

The psalmist is in agony of soul, he is crying out to God, his thoughts are raging.  Have you ever suddenly woken up at three am, eyes wide open, heart racing and felt the waves of worry and fear sweep over you?
Huge hospital bills can do this to us.  A lack of confidence in our abilities can do it.  The pain of suffering through an offense someone caused you can do it.  And through all of these difficulties we wonder what our God is up to.  We wonder how it will turn out for us.  How hurt and wounded will we be?  How much will he ask us to endure?  It frightens us at times.  And sadly, it can cause us to call God's character into question.

It is right there that we need to focus our attention.  Like the psalmist, our souls should "make a diligent search" with these questions that have obvious, "no-brainer" type answers.

"Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable?"

"Has his steadfast love forever ceased?"

"Are his promises at an end for all time?"

"Has God forgotten to be gracious?"

"Has he in anger shut up his compassion?"

Of course the answer to all of those questions is "No, of course not!"  That is the conclusion that we must come to as we remember who God is.

The problem is not with our God, it is with our tendency to doubt him.  We think that something is probably going to happen to us and it will be as if God is taking his love away.  We doubt his promises and his power to provide for our every need.  We think that somehow we will slip his mind and be overlooked.  Our view of God begins to be distorted the more we worry.  The remedy to our problem of doubt is to renew our trust in God and to remember who he is and what he has done.

The psalmist made this choice.  He said "Your way, O God, is holy."  He looks back and recounts how God has led his people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.  He says "Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen."

I cannot help but think of God's amazing power in parting the Red Sea for his people.  Think of it!  Deep waters that no one could possibly move or make it through.  An impossibility with an everything is possible God on their side.  We serve the very same God!  Don't allow your circumstances to cause you to lose sight of his power, his love and care for you soul, and the fact that he is leading you.  Often it is when the waves are raging or the prospects look bleak that we learn to trust and depend the most.  Even the wind and the seas obey him.  How can we ever doubt that he can help us?