My Counselor shared a story with me earlier this week about rip currents. They can be deadly if you do not know what to do when caught in one. The current can take you out to sea, but ultimately the current will cause you to sink.
You don’t sink because the current takes you under, you sink because you have struggled and fought against the force of the water. When this unseen enemy is pulling and moving you, your instant response is to fight.
Fighting against the current will leave you exhausted.
The longer you fight the more tired you become and ultimately you sink and drown. The trick to surviving the current isn’t one of our natural responses. In order to keep from drowning, you must float.
Giving in to our urge to fight will cause us to sink, when letting go will enable us to survive.
It is amazing to think that fighting would be what defeats us. It goes against what feels right. In our own lives rip currents will come. They will seek to cause us to fight so hard we drown. It may be grief, anxiety, depression, financial hardship, sickness—each one seeking to drown us.
It can be easier said than done to float in hard days, to not fight the current or panic at the waves. Floating requires a body that is fully relaxed and free from panic and fear. A body that is floating in the middle of pulling waves must rest in faith and not doubt the one who is holding us fast.
“One day he got into a boat with the disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they said he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke rebuked the waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:22-25)
In this story, the disciples are with Christ on a boat far from shore. Naturally out in the middle of the water a storm came and crashed hard against the boat. I imagine the boat was being tossed around the waves, water crashing over the edge of the boat.
The disciples were filled with fear, surely this would mean their death. There is no way they thought that they would survive the storm. Out in the middle of the water they would drown in the waves and all would be lost.
Their response in the storm and waves was to panic.
When we read the story and see them run to Christ who is at peace, sleeping soundly on the storm-tossed ship we almost laugh at their fear. If Christ was calmly floating in the storm, why weren’t they?
Those who followed Christ daily, who watched Him work miracles, and witnessed His ministry were panicked by the storm when Christ was not. How could Christ rest under such frightening circumstances? How was He not being pulled under by the waves of fear?
It wasn’t that Christ was unaware of the storm, it was that He knew who ultimately controlled the waves.
To the disciples a sleeping Christ on the boat was too much. How could he sleep? Does he not care about the storm happening?
God is not absent from our pain and struggles (Psalm 137:7-10).
God is not sleeping while we are struggling (Psalm 121:1).
When the waves rage and currents seek to pull us under we plead with God, we cry out as if God is surprised by our circumstance and isn’t present in the midst of it. The problem with the current and the waves that pull us under is our fight to control it. Surely if we can control the wave, calm the current, if we fight hard enough, we can overcome. But the truth is, we cannot control the currents that come, the waves that over power, and the storms that shake our lives.
When Christ woke up He calmed the storm with just a word. He wasn’t surprised to see the storm happening. He wasn’t afraid of what the storm would brought with it. He simply spoke the word and the storm stopped raging. Christ knew that being at peace was the only way they would survive.
Christ’s response to His disciples after speaking to the storm reveals the root of their response and ours, “Where is your faith?”
Faith is what allows us to float.
The disciples who journeyed with Jesus panicked in that moment of chaos and forgot to be still and remember who was on the boat with them. They chose to allow their circumstances to be greater than the great I AM. The current is no match for God.
We can learn a lesson for the disciples on the ship. When the current is pulling us out to sea, when we are fighting against it we will be pulled under. But when we hold fast to faith, still, relaxed, and remembering the truth, we will find our way out of the water.
Just as Christ spoke to the storm and rode the waves with the disciples, so He is also with us, riding every wave. He is able to speak to the storm at just the right time. He is able to deliver us from the current taking us under.
Remember when you're caught in a rip current don’t fight, have faith. Relax your mind and body, recite the truth of Scripture, trust the Father who has the wave in hand and knows the words required to calm the storm. Fighting in your own strength will only cause you to drown. When the current starts to pull you from shore, ask yourself, “Where is your faith?”
Photo Credit: © Pexels/Johannes Plenio
Michelle Rabon is helping women be disciples who make disciples. Michelle has her MDiv in Ministry to Women from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently serving as Women’s Ministry Director in her local church. She is also the author of Holy Mess. When she is not writing or teaching, she enjoys reading, being close to the ocean, and drinking a lot of coffee. You can connect with Michelle at www.michellerabon.com
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