Sunday, July 20, 2008

Things from the Deep

Psalm 121:1-8 “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day or the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.”

I had taken a week off, dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and flown from San Diego to Portland to visit my younger sister, Christa. My older sister, Nicole, had joined us from Spokane and we decided to hang out on the sandy edge of the Willamette River. Nicole was training for a triathlon and wanted to practice swimming in the slow moving river. Although there was nothing to be afraid of, the water below was murky, confusing and often frightening when slimy river weeds brushed up against her. She also couldn’t see as she swam. It was only when she lifted her head out of the water to take a breath that she could see in front of her.

I offered to walk ahead of her in the 3 1/2 foot water to pave the way. I ran through the water a distance ahead and cleared the water of plants or sticks that might scare her during the swim. Until I got the hang of going before her and clearing the way, we had a number of screaming incidents that probably amused the local sunbathers that day. Every so often I would get too far ahead and she couldn’t see me when she lifted her eyes up. If she couldn’t see me anymore she would completely stop for fear that she had gone off path and swam too far out. I eventually got into a rhythm and was able to walk just enough ahead that I could spot and remove offending objects but still be close enough so that she could see me every time she came up for air. As long as I did this, she was able to swim continuously and train harder than she would have been able to otherwise.

As I walked along, I thought about a few verses that describe how God does this in my life every day. Isaiah 45:2a says, “I will go before you and level the mountains [to make the crooked places straight.” Isaiah 52:12b says, “For the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” I love these verses because they describe God going before us and behind us. We are supremely protected in our walk with Christ because He has gone before us in everything we will experience. He knows what is to come and has gone before to clear the way. Equally, God is behind us protecting us from harm.

I am especially fond of Psalm 121. It is extremely comforting to know that God is not in the business of tripping us up, sleeping on the job, letting us slip, falling behind, neglecting to protect us from evil or abandoning his post. There have been many times in my life where I have forgotten to lift my eyes up from the murky waters of life I have been swimming in, but had I done so I would have found God ahead of me preparing the way. I often wonder where the help that God promises is, and I don’t remember that his help comes in many forms. Sometimes he is a shade, sometimes he protects from evil, other times he removes obstacles or stands guard. Whatever form that help does come and I can rest assured that “God is who He says He is” and “God can do what He says He can do” (Beth Moore, Believing God). We just need to believe that He is guarding our coming in and going out. He is ahead of us; we just need to lift our eyes out of the muck and swim straight for Him.

Additional Reference: Isa 43:15-21

2 comments:

Ynaffit said...

Great story! How is Christa?

Anonymous said...

But what about the Nudies?