Water is a simple thing. It is a common thing. It is so common that we fail to ponder its importance as we daily use it. It is essential to life itself. It is said that if the freezing point or the boiling point of water were different by even a few degrees life as we know it could not exist. Our very bodies are made up of mostly water. By nature, water moves along the path of least resistance. It goes where it wishes. It is thoughtless, careless, emotionless.
And yet it can teach us.
In a recent trip down the New River our group has learned this lesson in true living color. They have posted their stories on Facebook, which has resulted in many crying parents and other such aliments. Their experiences resonate with all who have fallen into deep, scary waters.
I do not really know how close to death any of them actually came, God knows the answer to that riddle. But it was a closer proximity than any of them had felt before and their fear in the rapids of the New River was very real and very serious. Pressure like that can make us such earnest folks. I like that. Because while looking down the barrel of a gun is no joy, it does bring the issues of life into perspective.
Unfortunately, experiences fade. The zeal that was once there wanes and for the life of us we cannot seem to recover it, as much as we might try. Some resort to “adrenaline monkey” lifestyles, always seeking to maintain the high or seeking an even greater one. I am of the opinion that the proper way to debrief from such an experience is to see what was revealed by the ordeal. In the upheaval of your world what did you find present within you? What did you find in your heart in those moments?
When God shows us the inside of our hearts it is a scary thing. But it is also a gift. It is even a rare gift, for in these moments of clarity, we can truly see. Because while many a good Christian speaks of wanting to be home with the LORD, when that moment comes we can see how dearly we hold to this life, we see how much we really do love this world. I would even go on to say that moments like these test the fabric of our faith. These things test the strength and durability of what we claim to believe.
-Is it a present reality we cling to as we are whirled about or is it void from our conscience as though it were mere philosophical musings?
-Does your belief system effect the state of mind of the victim or is it all thrown out the window in mass panic?
-Does the fact that you believe in a living God make a difference in the midst of the turmoil?
I have fallen out of the raft many times in my years going down the river. And while I am no longer as scared as I once was, and no longer think that I am going to die as soon as I hit the water, I am reminded every time of just how little I am.
To make sure you understand the nature of this scenario, please allow me to paint a picture for you. The water in a serious river is a living definition of “overwhelming.” If you are in the place where swimming as hard as you can is nothing more than utter exercise in futility or when holding your position is a bragging point, then you are beginning to grasp the nature of what I am talking about. In serious rapids the strapping-young-man is reduced to an insignificant status, barely better off than the bug being flush down the commode. In dangerous rivers you realize just how fleeting life is and just how much you really love dry land. In the midst of a dominant river you are struck by the powerful realization that it is not even within your ability to reach the surface of the water – you are at the whim of the current, either to an evil destination or to the surface for a breath of precious air.
For the victim it is a surreal moment.
And it is surreal because we all, in varying degrees, live with the belief that we are really in control of our lives. We all think of ourselves in god-like status. We all want to rule as God. This has been the battle since the Garden. Eve found the idea of being a rival to God too alluring to pass up. The pull was too strong. Instead of residing underneath the sovereign reign of the Almighty we all want to squirt out from under that pressure, thinking that we ourselves will rule in a more benevolent manner. We all think we know better than God – then we hit that water and one of God’s servants grips us in its emotionless hands, and then the walls of pride come crashing down. It is in this moment we see, with vivid clarity, that we are not like God.
Now, one could take the waters in a metaphorical sense here and the point applies as well. Consider the tumults and tempests of life that most all will encounter if they linger long on this rock. Ponder the thought of burying your mother. Think for a moment the emergency room visits with your wife and they take her away and you are left behind in the waiting room with nothing but your imagination. Think about a mom watching as they put needles and tubes into her little baby and the horror that this will induce. Put yourself in the place of the one who must watch from the sidelines as the one you love most in this world wastes away from an invisible disease. Are these not also tempests? Are these not also raging storms in which you have no power? Are these not also times when all the world seems to be pulled out from under you? In moments like these do you not feel small and insignificant?
This is the nature of the human condition. Limited, finite, small. We are certainly the biggest fish in a small pond (called earth) but nothing more.
“When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.”
- Psalm 8:3-5
And because of that honor and glory that He crowned us with we have become, each of us, proud. And we refuse to acknowledge Him as God and honor Him as Sovereign.
We forget that “by the word of the LORD were the heavens made, and their starry host by the breath of his mouth” and that “heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him.” What is more, the LORD Himself has declared that we don’t just forget, we even suppress the truth given to us in nature. God has said that the world that He created points to Him. This world is faithful to remind us, as we observe it, that we are indeed not God.
If you are attentive you will notice an interesting thing in Scripture. God will most often use one servant to bring about judgment on another. This is all over the pages of the Old Testament and littered throughout the history of Israel. This is even the specific dilemma of the Prophet Habakkuk. God will use His servants to bring about the result He desires. In our lives most specifically, He directs such servants toward us to conform us more rightly into the image of His Son. The waters of the New River were used to teach our group many things; maybe most pointedly to bring to attention the pride that we have been content to live with before Him. Now we can testify that indeed “all things are His servants” as Psalm 119:91 proclaims.
The nature of water is to remind us of our place in this world. A servant, not a king.
“Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
- Isaiah 55:6-9
