Russell A. Cardwell Online

What Ships are Built For

by Russell Cardwell @ 12:47 am. Filed under Epiphanies. [add to del.icio.us]

Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters;
They have seen the works of the LORD,
And His wonders in the deep.
—Psalm 107:23-24

Those who remain in the shallow waters along the shore have little to worry about from the sea. It is out in the deep waters that the waves rise towering overhead, and the troughs send ships plummeting toward the depths.

Along the shore we feel safe—we are always in sight of dry land. We feel secure knowing we can fend for ourselves. Out in the deeps, there is no safety in sight; we are entirely reliant on God’s protection.

So why not stay in the shallows? It is only in the deep waters that the real work of the Lord can be done. In Luke 5, Jesus tells Peter to take his boat into the deep water and let down his nets.

But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
—Luke 5:5-6

There is little to gain secure near the shore.

What about those storms at sea, though? Remember, it is God who commands the sea. He spoke it into being, and with a word, can “rebuke the wind and the raging waves,” as he did in Luke 8.

So why doesn’t he still every storm? First of all, just as storms at sea test the integrity of a ship’s hull and the character of its crew, it is in the storms of life that our integrity is tested and the strength of our character is built. Second, just as storm winds may blow a ship to a different port than it set out for, so too with the storms in our lives. A jujitsu master uses the force of his enemy’s attack to defeat him. And God is the greatest jujitsu master of all. When Satan stirs up a storm in our lives, God can use the enemy’s own force to propel us on a course of His choosing, sending us flying all sheets before the wind to a haven we never hoped to reach. Don’t forget that on Good Friday, it looked like Satan had won. But God used Satan’s own schemes against him. And by Easter Sunday, he had turned apparent defeat into the greatest victory of all time!

God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. Sometimes what he asks us to do doesn’t make sense to our natural, rational minds. Like Peter, we want to say, “We already tried that, and it didn’t work.” We would rather stay safely in port. But Peter went on to say, “Nevertheless, at your word—” and he piloted his ship out into the deeps.

Jesus soon invited him into even deeper waters, far from any sea, to seek an even greater catch. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) Peter could have stayed safely in Galilee, living a comfortable life, running a successful fishing business. Who would have blamed him? What Jesus asked was unreasonable. But at God’s call, he answered, “Nevertheless, at your word—” and left safe harbor forever behind.

The storms at sea are fierce and daunting, but in the deeps God’s harvest waits, and there, the workers are few.