Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Sea and Its Boundary

Job 38:8-11
Unlike the sea that rages and bellows but knows its boundaries and goes no farther, the waves of my discontent rise and swell.  The tides of my complaints attempt to breach the bulwarks and flood the shorelines of contentment that have been established for me.  My “proud waves” reach stupendous heights that crash down upon the budding seed of faith, intent upon drowning it in a murky sea of sin.

The tumult of my rebellious youth roars loudly in my ears like the bellowing sea.  I was but a grain of sand burdened by the weight of the great sea of sin.  Tossed about and carried by the raging waves, helpless and unable to free myself from its terrible grip, it carried me deeper and deeper into the vast abyss waiting below.  Falling away from the light above, the dark sea began to swallow me as I struggled against its force.

But as the sea of depravity threatened to drown me forever in its depths, the Lord heard my cry, “Save me!”  His ancient eye saw me as I impotently fought against the powerful and dreadful pull that was hurling me away from Him.  And with a loud voice He commanded, “No farther!”

As the sea has a boundary established by its Creator, there was also one set for me.  Among the myriad grains of sand hurtling through the raging torrent, God stretched out His arm and plucked me from amongst them.  He had set the limit to which He would allow me to sink before He would intervene.  And when the time came, He pulled me out of the sea of sin, set my feet firmly upon His Rock, and surrounded me with a impenetrable wall of protection against the pounding waves of the world.

The stormy tempest of tribulations and trials will come often.  They will assault the harbor of safety in which my ship is moored.  I will be tossed about on waves of indecision and buffeted by the winds of doubt.  The tides of despair may even threaten to drown me.  But even these have a limit prescribed by God.

The Lord has set another boundary for me which cannot be breached by the storms of this life and the world that woos me toward its briny deep.  I have tasted the sweetness of the water from the bottomless well of His grace, and my soul has been washed clean of the brackish and bitter water of sin.  Like the travailing winds that fill the ship's sails and steer them to safe harbors, I have felt His soft breath upon my cheek as He carries me into the safety of His.  And I have felt His powerful hand of divine protection pull me away from the desiring currents of sin and anchor me firm and fast to His Rock.

Never again will the raging sea of sin threaten to carry me into the dark abyss below, for the ship upon which I sail is captained by the Lord, and the sea knows its boundary.