What do you do when everything around you is raging? It could be many things: the job is going bad, there are issues in your relationships with friends or family, the church you attend is in a state of flux, your car breaks down and you’ve put on more pounds than you can take off. Life is just NOT easy! There are pitfalls and troubles at every turn and sometimes it can make you so worn that you don’t think you can even stand up. I have news for you: YOU CAN! Not only can you stand, but you can do far more than that. You can dance!
As I pondered my own current situation and the chaos I see all around me in every area, I was suddenly reminded (yet again) of the story of Peter walking on the water. Most people of faith are very familiar with the story, but if you aren’t, you can read it in Matthew 14:22-31. When this story is told or preached, it is basically presented with the focus on how Peter jumped out there with all kinds of faith, but then he took his eyes of Jesus and sank as a result. I’ve heard all the sermons about “taking your eyes off of Christ” or “When you doubt, you sink.” Yes, they are all well and good but there is something really important we miss when we don’t look deeper.
It is no secret that Life can be really hard, and there are always going to be struggles we have to face. We are hit continually with difficult situations or, as someone very dear to me has said, “I feel like I’m being pecked to death by chickens!” I can relate! Sometimes it isn’t big stuff that is dragging us down, but all the little nagging things we have to deal with daily. One peck from a chicken might hurt, but it’s not going to kill you. But a brood of chickens pecking you over and over is going to cause some serious damage! When we get overwhelmed by the circumstances around us, it takes a huge toll on our health not just mentally but physically as well. We end up with all kinds of physical problems, and our bodies respond with all kinds of aches, pains and other issues. Recent studies have shown that almost 90 percent of all visits to primary doctors are due to stress-related problems. Think about that! We are killing ourselves with the stress in our lives. I know what you are thinking: “I can’t control what is going on around me or the stress I’m under!” Although you may not have control over the swirling circumstances, you do have control over how you let it affect you. I’m not saying it is easy, and I personally struggle with it continually. I’m simply saying most of our stress comes from how we choose to react to our circumstances and not the circumstances themselves.
So back to this story about Peter for a moment. As I thought about this event again, I was struck with two very important things on which I’ve never heard anyone really focus.
- Jesus didn’t ask Peter to come out there. Peter initiated things by calling out “Hey, if it’s you Jesus, then I want to come out there and walk with you on the water!” So when Peter said he wanted to come, Jesus told him “OK, come on!” Peter was a lot like us. We get excited and want to jump out on the sea and walk with God. After all, it would be a great experience that most never get to have. So God says, “Come on” and we jump out of the ship onto the sea.
- Everyone talks about how Peter took his eyes off Jesus but that really isn’t what it says. The Bible actually says he saw the boisterous wind and became afraid. It doesn’t say he took his eyes off of Jesus; It says he put his eyes on something else. This may seem like semantics but it isn’t. There is a huge difference between looking away from something and looking AT something.
So why do these two facets of this story really matter? What a great thing it is to be able to say to God, “Let me walk with You on the surface of this raging sea,” and instead of God telling us to stay in the ship where it is safer, He looks at us and says, “Hey – yeah, come on out here!” And we step out to walk in places we should never be able to walk. Peter basically said to Jesus, “I want to walk where You walk. I want to be where You are. I don’t care what it looks like or whether or not I’m supposed to be able to do it. That’s where I want to be!” I can attest to being in that spot before. I’ve told God I want to walk where He walks and experience miraculous things, but just like Peter, it has been short-lived more often than I can count. See, Peter wasn’t just looking around and noticing the scenery of the storm. He could have seen all of it and chosen to be excited and say, “ This is awesome! I should not be able to do this and be peaceful and joyful, but I am! Jesus, thanks for letting me come out here with You.” But he didn’t. Instead he focused on the wind and waves and thought, “What am I doing?! This was stupid. Oh my God, this is too dangerous. It’s going to kill me; I’m going to die.” And it was that perspective on his circumstances that sank him. The only reason he didn’t die was he screamed, “Lord, save me!” and of course, Jesus reached out and grabbed him, just like He does with us every time we do the same thing.
I don’t know about you, but I want a really close relationship with my God. I want a relationship so close that when I see Him walking on the sea, I want to be out there too – no matter how it looks. I want to dance on the waves while everyone else is huddled in the ship, scared to death. That’s what I want! I need to remember when everything is falling around me – whether storms are raging or I am being pecked to death by chickens – that it is perfectly okay for me to say, “I want to be where You are. Let me come out there and walk out a miracle with You!” And do you know what He will say every time? “Come on out here! I’ve got you and nothing can hurt you. Come enjoy the scenery and dance on top of the waves.”
Things around me (or you) might be so frustrating, hurtful, angering or depressing that it would be easy to focus on them and let the stress drain everything from me. I could get caught up in the circumstances that are ever present in one area or another and just keep sinking, or I can look at those same circumstances and be amazed and giddy that I am untouchable and safe regardless of what it looks like – because I am walking with my God. As the line from the song says, “When you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.” When you think of what happened with Peter, that line takes on a whole new meaning.
We aren’t told to put on blinders and try to deny our circumstances. Instead, we need to see the storm and get excited that we are walking on the waves. So jump onto the water and then dance, skip and laugh – in spite of the storms. Because it still beats staying in the ship.
Blessings!
It is simply a fact that we are going to have trouble in this life. If you are like me, you spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out solutions to whatever problems arise. We do not like to be troubled by finances, illness, relationship issues or anything else that results in us feeling bad or stressed. Stress caused by life’s trouble is something most of us want resolution to as quickly as possible. So what do we do? Well, that’s where it gets a little more grey, especially for people of faith!
When I am faced with problems, no matter what area of life they are in, I become almost obsessed with gathering information and figuring out a solution. People close to me have seen it first-hand. I love puzzles, and I LOVE figuring out the answer to a problem. And you know what? I am good at it. God blessed me with a great brain that can see trends and spot paths through a jumbled mess that will lead to an effective solution. It has served me well in many ways, and most certainly in my professional life. It’s been that way ever since I was a child. The problem with that ability is that it becomes very easy to rely on my reasoning rather than to trust God to provide a solution to whatever I am facing. I recently had a very profound revelation regarding this issue with which many of us struggle. I was listening to a message and the speaker said, “God didn’t call me to understand; He called me to believe.” That statement literally stopped me in my tracks because God doesn’t continually tell us to “understand.” He continually tells us to believe and trust Him. As I stood there considering this statement, I suddenly realized the reason I have to always know the whys or wear myself down analyzing and assessing every situation in my life. It’s because I actually don’t believe God most of the time. Every person of faith would always answer “yes” if asked, “Do you believe God?” But do we really? Do I believe God has a plan for each of us – or for me specifically? Yes, I do. Then why do I waste so much time stressed out over figuring out solutions to every problem that comes up? Because no matter what I SAY, my actions show that I think God is not capable of providing a solution or taking care of me. My mindset, like many of yours, is that God gave me a brain and He expects me to use it. Yes, that’s true, but I am not to use it to the exclusion of trusting Him. I am not supposed to come up with plan A-Z to make sure I have everything covered no matter what happens. Quite frankly, that’s not my job. My job is to ask God for clarity on where He is leading and then trust Him, even if I don’t understand how it is all going to work out. That is what faith is – the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
Look, I’m not advocating taking leave of your senses and just sitting down in the yard and saying, “I’m not going to do anything because God promised to take care of me.” He expects us to work, but He also expects us to trust Him for the results and not ourselves. We often hear the admonition that we need to “save for a rainy day.” Have you ever asked someone for the definition of a “rainy day?” Better yet, have you ever asked yourself that question? The answers vary but here are the most common:
I needed the revelation of that one sentence I heard this week. I needed to be reminded that my unending struggle for gathering all the information and then leaning on MY own understanding for a solution needs to stop. There is a better way – a perfect way. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” (Prov 3:5-6). The most profound word in those two verses is the word “all.” I need to do it in ALL things, with ALL my heart because He has promised, without condition, to take care of me when I do. I need to let go of the overwhelming need to have every contingency plan possible. There is something truly liberating in the realization that the stress in my life does not come from the situations that arise, but in the way in which I react to them. It is freeing and empowering to finally, after all these years, realize WHY I always have to know why. It’s because somewhere in my mind, I think I can figure out a plan that will work better and makes more sense than the One who knows everything, sees everything and has the power to DO anything, except override my free will. If I would just stop thinking for a while and ask God for clarity, I will have it. The scary thing is the clarity and direction I receive may not make sense based on what I see in front of me. My intellect will scream it is stupid and can’t work. Instead, my intellect and reason should be screaming that God has promised and He cannot lie! Verse after verse in the Bible reflects that truth, and my God-given ability to think would be better utilized to understand His word and exactly what He has promised, then act accordingly by simply trusting Him and following where He leads.
James 1:5-7 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (NIV) The other side of that equation is that if we will simply ask in faith, and not doubt, God will provide the direction through every situation in our lives. We can let Him do all the heavy lifting and sit back and relax. We can do what He asks us to do and not worry about the rest because He will provide every solution we need. It may not be the solution we wanted, but it will always be the one that is best. Remember, He did not call us to understand; He called us to believe!
Yes, you read that right. And as sacrilegious as it may sound, I will say it again, “God is NOT in control.” My entire life I have been taught over and over that God is in control and that He is always working in our lives. It is supposed to comfort us when we are hurting or scared, and strengthen us when we are weak and weary. After all, He has made so many promises to us in His word, including Romans 8:28 that says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Although that is true, along with all the other promises about how He will never leave nor forsake us, there have been many times where it seems that just isn’t true. Sometimes our thoughts, emotions or lives feel so out of control, even when we are trying to serve God faithfully, that we start to wonder if God is REALLY in control.
The truth is I’ve always struggled with times like this, nights like this. Stresses in my life seem to pile up, which then increase my already heightened sensitivities, which then cause me to start spinning out of control. I have written creatively about these times in the past, poems, songs and musings, trying to describe the horrific sensation of such intensity and chaos. Even when the stresses or emotions are positive, the result ends up the same. There is chaos that is frightening and sadness that is overwhelming. I replay every situation, interaction and conversation, looking for clues that will help me understand what I am sensing. Did I say or do something that made someone angry or upset? Did I miss something that I should have seen that could have changed a situation personally or professionally? And the more I ask myself questions, I find there are less answers. Perhaps it is worse in the dark of the night, but it can be overwhelming even in the brightest day.
What a great assurance to know that He is in control. But all of these benefits, and everything He promises us in His word about having peace and contentment, are contingent on whether or not we ALLOW Him to be in control. When we just keep saying, “God is in control,” without reminding each other that He is only in control of what we allow Him to be, we are doing a great disservice to each other and to those around us. It is true that God is not the author of confusion, and if we (if I) will surrender my messy thoughts, emotions, and actions over to Him, then He will sort it out. I can relax, knowing He IS in control and has promised to work everything out for my good. We all long for a sense of order and control when things are overwhelming us. Sometimes we strive for that sense of control above all else, even if it’s false, but I have good news. You actually do have control. You control whether or not you will choose to allow God to take over and work things out.
In life, all of us tend to measure ourselves by how we compare with the other people in our lives. Do we have as much as they have? Do we look as good as they look? Are we as successful as they are? We do a lot of comparing and although it can spur us to make positive changes in our lives, it more often makes us just feel worse about our circumstances. The truth is if we never saw or knew what someone else has or did, we’d be much happier with what WE have. Right now I wish I could remember that truth more strongly than I do.
It is an interesting thing to consider that when we actually look at someone who is less fortunate than we are, we suddenly feel better about our own situation. For example, when you pass a homeless person shivering in the night, or drive through a run-down and even dangerous area of town, it puts things in perspective. We find ourselves suddenly grateful that we have a roof over our heads, a warm bed in which to sleep, clothes to wear and food on the table. But you see, normally we aren’t taking time to consider those who have less than us. We only consider and look at people who have more. When you pay attention only on those who have more or are getting the things you want (or have even prayed for) it can be tough to swallow. And if you believe God is in control, it can be even worse because it can sometimes lead to you feeling like God is mad at you or somehow he doesn’t see or maybe he just doesn’t care. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” If that’s true, then what’s the problem?
Grace is getting what we don’t deserve, and mercy is NOT getting what we DO deserve. For example, even though I’m saved, I still sin. I don’t deserve for God to forgive me time and time again for doing or thinking the same thing, and yet he has promised to forgive us EVERY time we ask and wipe the slate clean so He can bless us. That is grace – I don’t deserve it but He blesses me anyway. On the flip side, I deserve to have to feel miserable and condemned because of the things I think or do, yet God promises to not only forgive us but to forget it completely and then helps us move forward and live abundantly with all kinds of blessings. More practically speaking, it could also look something like this:
When we look at someone who gets something we think they did NOT deserve, it makes us angry or jealous. We just can’t figure out why God would do that. After all, why wouldn’t God punish them instead of allowing good things in their lives? I must confess I have a big “justice gene” in me, and it’s hard for me to watch people do wrong (or not do right) and just keep landing on their feet. We’ve all watched people who have made terrible decisions in their lives and still keep coming out on top. That’s a hard thing to witness when you spend your life truly trying to do the right things and somehow keep coming out on the bottom. It can be a very difficult thing to handle.
We sit back and start thinking about all the effort we’ve put in, maybe even the persecution we’ve endured in life for living right, and start feeling slighted that God doesn’t give us more! Once we get into that cycle, we become ungrateful and resentful not only of what others have, but of the fact that God now seems so unfair. Sometimes it shakes our faith to the point that we start considering becoming selfish and living however we want, because in our minds, obviously that’s what pays off. We feel we have a right to complain about it, just like those 6:00 a.m. workers did, and God’s answer is the same as the owner of that vineyard: “I am not being unfair to you, friend…Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” The truth is, we are envious because He is generous, and the entire problem begins when we start looking around and comparing what we have to what others have.
So today, I will look to Him and His faithfulness to me instead of looking at the possessions, successes or blessings of anyone else. Will I stay in this place? Unfortunately not, but through the beauty of God’s grace and mercy, I can return to it with a simple refocusing and the promise of His forgiveness whenever I ask…no matter how many times it takes.
So I think about Israel and how it would have been impossible for them to doubt they were going the right way or doing the right thing. IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM AND VISIBLE. So they did exactly what God asked of them and then ended up in the worst place possible – a place in which they had no control and all hope was shattered. I truly believe at that point that even the smartest and most faithful among the people would have begun to doubt. I can see someone scratching his/her head and thinking, “I don’t understand. It was perfectly clear where God was leading and there was no question about what was right. So how did we end up HERE? I must have missed something somewhere or we wouldn’t be trapped.” How confusing it would have been to have seen God work in such amazing ways to bring you out of slavery but then PURPOSELY lead you to a place from which you could not escape. Did He make a mistake? Did you make a mistake in following? The things the Israelites must have been thinking are questions we still ask ourselves today. Did I do the right thing for nothing? Did I follow where God was leading only to end up in a situation from which there is no escape? Is my situation hopeless? I can tell you the answer to all of these questions is a resounding “NO,” because the story doesn’t end there.
It doesn’t feel good. It feels hopeless. I feel like that Israelite standing there thinking, “I was doing the right thing, but I must have been wrong because look where I am now. I’ve got an ocean in front of me and an army closing in behind me. I look to the right and left and there is nothing but impassible terrain. I’ve got nothing, no control. I can’t make anything happen and I’m stuck.” A few nights ago, as I couldn’t sleep, I literally cried out to God through my tears, “There is no way out of this! Too much has already happened and it can’t be fixed. It is impossible!” And as I heard myself in my despair, I remembered Pihahiroth. It really isn’t just pretty lyrics to say “God will make a way,” or that Pihahiroth is the place of freedom. This actually IS Pihahiroth, where God can and will provide a way. As a matter of fact, He has already made the way. The question is: Am I willing to follow even when He has not revealed it yet?
The Cadence of My Soul 