As the children tumbled out of the van, the sun was shining on the lake, making the little ripples sparkle invitingly.
“Can we go out in the boats?” the children asked excitedly.
“You sure can,” their parents answered.
Soon all six of the little boats were inflated and manned by the children, eager to be off on some new adventure. Mom was in one boat, taking the youngest children for a ride one at a time. As she came back toward the shore to drop off one child and pick up another, she noticed that Jeannie and Roberta were going round and round in circles in their little boat. The problem was that Roberta wanted to return to the shore while Jeannie wanted to go to the other side of the lake, and so they were paddling against each other. Round and round they went, but they weren’t going anywhere. Sometimes they were laughing, sometimes grumbling. All the time they were paddling hard, but they weren’t making any headway because they were paddling in different directions.
Has your life ever been like that? If you have confessed to the Lord Jesus that you are a sinner and let Him wash away your sins and become the Lord of your life, you are one of His disciples. It’s as though you are in a boat with Him. But there’s one big difference between you and the Lord Jesus in your boat and Roberta and Jeannie in their boat. You know that the direction the Lord Jesus wants to take is the right way, because He is God and He knows what is best for each person.
Several places in the Bible we read about the Lord Jesus being in a boat with His disciples. One time He had been busy teaching and healing sick people all day long. Now it was evening and He was very tired. “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake,” He said to His disciples. So when they had sent the people away, they all got into a little ship together and Jesus went to sleep. They hadn’t been sailing very long when the wind began blowing violently and the waves washed over the ship until it was filled with water. But the Lord Jesus kept right on sleeping on a pillow in the back of the boat.
“Wake up! Wake up!” His disciples cried to the Lord. “Don’t you care that we’re all going to drown?”
The Lord Jesus got up at once and rebuked the wind and commanded the sea to be silent and still. Immediately the wind stopped blowing and the sea became calm.
Sometimes as you are paddling your boat across the sea of life, you may feel that the Lord Jesus doesn’t seem to care what’s happening, that you need to cry to Him to wake up. But it was He who had told the disciples to sail over to the other side of the lake, and He fully intended them to get there even though there were difficulties on the way. So He asked them, “Why are you so frightened? How come you have no faith?”
Then they were afraid and said to each other, “What kind of man is this that even the wind and sea obey Him?” That’s a good question, and the answer is that He is God. John 1:11In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) says, “The Word was God,” and verse 14 says, “The Word was made flesh [Jesus], and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Are you trusting the Lord Jesus for your salvation and following His direction? Or are you trying to paddle in a different direction than He chooses? He is always worthy to be trusted, and if you trust Him and follow His direction, He will take you safely to the other side (heaven), even though there may be storms along the way.
APRIL 12, 1998
ML-04/12/1998