"I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33...."We must kiss the wave that throws us against the Rock of Ages." Charles Spurgeon
I think one of the most violent sights in the natural world is that of mighty ocean waves crashing against the rocks of the shore. It is beautiful and terrible. Certainly, anything that is thrown against those rocks will suffer wreckage. Throughout history, ships have been torn to pieces on the rocks that the waves threw them upon. For you and me, we must be aware that the waves and the rocks of life are real, and that at some point, maybe many points, we will be thrown upon these rocks by the waves of life. God's own will not be immune. However, if we are His, we will find that the rocks we crash upon are composed of the One who is the Rock of Ages. Of all ages.
It is our natural inclination to fear the waves of life. When we are caught up in them, all our sense of control is lost. We are at their mercy. We can see the looming rocks of the shore as they carry us towards them. We are sure that the rocks will tear us apart just as they would a mighty ship. They will, but here is the glory in it. When the rocks we crash upon are the Lord Himself, we can be sure that He will take what we think is wreckage and rebuild it all into something beautiful, something better. When we know this, we really can "kiss the wave" for it has brought us into a deeper knowledge, a deeper relationship with Him. We are not the same. We are more.
This past year contained waves that were bent upon our destruction. Certainly our great enemy satan meant them for such. But just as Scripture says, what the enemy meant for our harm, God means for our good. If we break upon the rocks, it is our self-reliance, our self-absorption, our self-life in general that He means to be broken. He means to use the breaking to replace all that with His life, Christ life. We find that the Rock only destroyed that which was harming us, replacing it with that which makes for real life. In the waves, in the crashing, we learn of how powerless we really are, and how Almighty He really is. He takes our broken pieces and makes us into something, someone, who is truly whole. When we realize this, we really can "kiss the wave" that sent us crashing against the Rock that is our Saviour.
The waves of 2021 will be inevitable. So too will be the rocks. What happens when we break upon them will be our choice. We can suffer spiritual shipwreck, or be spiritually remade. He who is the Rock also controls the waves. If we will trust Him as we also yield to the waves, He will use those waves to carry us above and beyond what we thought possible in life. Upon those rocks, we will discover a Christ we never knew. A life we never knew. When that happens, we will "kiss the waves," because they brought us into a deeper fullness in Him.
Blessings,
Pastor O
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