From the Archive: "Swim through it, not over it" March 25, 2010

           True for Marlin and Dory, true for us. I have been increasingly convicted that we need to “swim through trials” and not attempt to swim over them. We need to trek on in the desert instead of aimlessly wandering for water and chasing mirages. Sometimes we are put into a season of drought, uncertainty, and waiting that seems like a spiritual desert or being loss at sea. You don’t know which way is up north, south, or where you’re headed. It can be a scary place to be.

            In light of this, I think many Old Testament texts can be wonderful explanations for the importance of remembering, resisting, and the reward in the end. God constantly calls his people to remember how He worked in the past, to resist temptation to go their own way in the present, and to travel on in trust knowing that there is a reason and reward for our trials.

            This has hit me in countless ways in the past week. From a wonderful recount of a sermon by the discipleship coordinator on how God led His people the long way to the Promised Land, and the necessity of that. He could have let them around the northern rim of the Red Sea but he chose to take them south. He chose, to reveal his power by parting the Red Sea and thus encouraging them with the strength of their God and his Sovereignty over all things.   In His omnipotence He knew that they needed these demonstrations for courage and trust in the future. Not only that, due to their sins they were stuck in the desert for 40 years. Sometimes we’re stuck in a season of distress because of our own ignorance, sin, and lack of trust. God uses these desert times to teach us about His power and love (Deuteronomy 4). It is why we must swim through the trials, because the swimming leads to endurance and trust, in greater strength and security than if we didn’t suffer or have to wait.

            By no means is this easy, but it is essential. Paul tells the Romans that “suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint…” (adapted from Rom. 5:1-4).  Within this there will be much temptation. Temptation to: rebel, to check out, to find our own way, and to take the easiest way out of pain, instead of trusting and persevering. I think some of the easiest temptations in our culture are laziness, comfort, and blame-shifting. Our culture prides itself on the “power of the individual” while simultaneously giving us excuses to blame society, our social circles, and our genes. Yes, those things undoubtedly influence us and can be part of our trials, but they do not define our capacity to trust God. He does not change and we must remember in order to resist. Remembering how He’s “parted the Red Sea” for us in the past is a huge weapon in combating our excuses and fears. He has not changed since those times where we so clearly saw Him working. Write down how He’s worked and read over it when the temptation to despair and have tunnel “desert vision” of your trials. Personally, this has caused me to have a renewed trust in who God is and what He does, He pulled through in the past when I didn’t see a way out—and his steadfast love has not changed- it endures forever! 

            Lastly, we must work for the reward, namely, to enjoy God for who He is, not solely for what He’s done and will do for us. The Bible calls us to “rejoice in the Lord!” This does not mean we deny that our circumstances are hard, but signals a trust that God is sovereign over them and that they WILL and DO have a purpose. Just like the Israelites needed the long way to the Promised Land, we need our circumstances to cultivate fortitude and faith.  The Israelites could not see the importance of their wandering until it was in the past, likewise, we often do not see the fruits of our trials until much later—but they will be there. I encourage you to remember how God has worked in the past, resist the temptation to give up and give into the “quick fix”, and to trust and wait for the reward of your suffering. It will be much, and will cause you to taste and see that the Lord is good and to enjoy Him in new ways.

                                    Swim through it, not over it.

Deuteronomy 4:32-40  ³²"For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. ³³Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? ³⁴Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. ³⁶ Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, ³⁸⁽ driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, ³⁹know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ⁴⁰ Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time."