"O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still." --Psalm 83:1
[The following is an excerpt from my Semester at Sea journal, August 2003]
Do not be still. . . A headwind has made the past couple of days rough. Just a few minutes ago, I said to a friend, "I wish this would just stop for ten minutes." After reading this passage, I realize that can't happen, and I don't want it to happen.
God is a lot like this ocean. It is because of Him that we feel, that we experience, that we live. If it weren't for God shaking things up, making us feel sick to the core, we would not be able to grow, to learn from our mistakes.
God keeps coming at us, wave upon wave. Never giving up, never ceasing. Imagine what would happen if God ceased to exist, even for just ten minutes. Imagine all the damage that could be done in that small amount of time.
So even though we sometimes tire of all that God throws us and we wish that we could get away for ten minutes, the results [c]ould be disastrous.
[On a side note, later on in the voyage I did witness the surface of the endlessly moving ocean appear to be as smooth as glass. . . and it only lasted about ten minutes.]
God being indifferent is a thought that leaves me marooned and alone. Time and tide flow wide. From chapter 22 of Moby Dick, Melville wrote.
ReplyDelete"At last the anchor was up, the sails were set, and off we glided. It was a short, cold Christmas; and as the short northern day merged into night, we found ourselves almost broad upon the wintry ocean, whose freezing spray cased us in ice, as in polished armor. The long rows of teeth on the bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows."
Make me a picture of that!