the headlines have been hard to ignore lately. boats, planes and lives lost to the sea. swallowed up and gone. and those who are well acquainted with sea faring know that what the ocean claims, she rarely gives back. it’s a bleak reality. and my heart aches at the devastation that life can render sometimes.
but God’s heart literally breaks for the lost at sea. for those in despair and drowning. for all who have lost their way in this life. and need rescuing .
as i sit at the seashore, my eyes are fixed on the waves crashing on the sand and the sound of the gulls cry. i watch the tide rush in and out. it’s like the whole rhythm of life. moments of life’s loveliness rush in …but can be swept out to sea just as easy. both a love story and a tragedy, all chapters from the same book. but The Author never intended for death and despair to be part of the story. that wasn’t in the original manuscript He wrote for His people. so for love’s sake, He planned our rescue.
Was it not Thou who dried up the sea ? The waters of the great deep. Who made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to crossover ? Isaiah 51:10
He made a way. He always makes a way , a path for His people. and then He says come, trust me, walk into risk. I am with you and I am holding back the waters of the deep. so come, cross over. to promise. to provision. to a land dripping with hope. leave the shallow comforts of a familiar life you have grown accustomed to. don’t you see , you’ve lived in bondage…now come into abundance.
it will cost you.
and test you.
you might even want to go back to life as a slave…to a small but safe life.
the Israelites couldn’t see. we can’t see. to the other side of disaster, affliction or lack. to the other side of the reality in front of us. our faith is small. our hearts get homesick and we get so very lost in our manic wandering.
but HE sees. the Father’s merciful gaze never ceases to be on us. He knows our need. He’s known it all along. and He had a plan to save us all along.
then He reached right down from heaven and gave us A Way.
to take our frail hearts and our stuck feet and walk us through the deep . to be our manna in the dessert and Living water to our parched souls.
He gave us Jesus. the provision for our stubborn, small, unbelieving and bondage ridden hearts…to be truly set free. in every. single. way. set free. rescued.
He is the plan for washing our iniquities and sin out to sea. with no remainder of what was. they have been carried out to the deep. into vastness. forgotten. God has no memory of our sinful brokenness because of Jesus.
This new plan I am making with Israel isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled in stone; This time I’m writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins. Hebrews 10:16,17 The Message
remember, no matter how great the ship wreck of your life or how lost…you are never beyond rescuing. call out to Him from the deep and pitching waves. He hears you and sees.
Jesus, today words fall short of what is in my heart. and my utter gratitude and dependence on You for rescuing my soul. i have been plucked from the deep , from the reality of a sinking life and lostness. i am Yours and it is written on my heart.
finding life beautiful 