holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.
Ever feel like you have been shipwrecked? You were going along pretty well, smooth sailing, no major storms shifting your trajectory then-BAM! Something happens that knocks you right off course. Big waves crash over you again and again. You struggle to keep the air in your lungs and keep the water out, but it’s a big struggle!
You may have been here a time or two. A large bill for an expense you don’t have the money for-BAM. An illness that will take you out of work and take time and money to recuperate- BAM. The unexpected death of a loved one-BAM. Where do we go for relief? Where do we turn for help?
Think for a minute about the communication system of an infant. When I would lay my baby boy down for a nap (for about 15 minutes) he would drift off to sleep with the comfort of a pacifier to soothe. If he lost the pacifier, he would whimper and squirm. I would go check on him to be sure he was OK, but he was often capable of finding the pacifier on his own, and returning it to the ‘sweet spot’ and return to sleep. Sometimes he had more difficult problems he could not take care of-a wet and uncomfortable diaper. He would awaken with a cry that would signal to me; ‘I need your help’! Of course, Mom’s tend to know their babies cry signals, so I changed baby boy, and he was off to dreamland in a few moments. But, sometimes there was a much bigger problem! This might be a bad dream, or a hunger pang and then the loud, shrill scream immediately caught my attention! I run to him. What was the problem? What could I do to fix it? This is my child, I love him with all my heart, I cannot bear to hear him be in such pain and agony if there is something I can do to help him! Since I am a flawed Mom, I had to try a couple things before I would get the one that worked. But soon, we were in happyland again!
Remember we are God’s children, and He knows us perfectly, and loves us perfectly. I have seen people who just ‘whimper’ to God, I have done it myself. ‘Oh Lord, please show me where my phone is’. BAM The thought occurs to you, courtesy of the Holy Spirit, ‘you left it in the car’. Thank You Lord. Maybe you cry out a little louder when a scheduling problem occurs and you need to be in two places at once. ‘Oh Lord, I don’t know what I am going to do about this. I need to be at both these places of equal importance at the same time’. BAM Something happens, that you cannot explain and the schedule shifts. We seem to do OK with these non-life threatening, day to day conflicts. We know God is hovering and waiting for our ‘cry’ to step in and help. The big one is the big scream! We receive a cancer diagnosis, we have a painful accident, a loved one died…BAM! Now we are screaming, crying out to the Lord, and can have two opposing beliefs about the answer. If we have called out to God in our faith walk over the years, and we have received answers to our ‘small’ problems, we will more than likely call on God for the big problem, and trust he has the best answer. If we did not go to God with the whimpers and whines, we may not realize that he will be there for us in the big storms. We are shipwrecked-and stranded!
We have allowed the storms of life overwhelm us because we have not been practicing our faith, building up our trust. The waves crash over us, but we continue to take on water, instead of calling on God for help. We don’t know that the same God who could wipe away our tears for the small problem, is still there for the big problem. We have not ever called on Him. We have no experience going to Him for help, and receiving the answer!
God calls this ‘shipwrecked faith’. Your faith has run aground, and there is virtually no way to get your ship out of the sand bar, and back on course. But God! You may not have had the ‘practice’ calling on God in smaller times of trouble, but He will not turn a deaf ear to you now. He hovers over us, listening, waiting for the smallest whimper, or the loudest scream. And, He has the answer in his hand, just waiting for us to ask!
Do you feel like your faith has been shipwrecked by the rocky seas of life? It doesn’t have to be. Call on God…whimper…cry out….or scream…He is available, in fact, He is waiting for us to ask for his help! Call out to him today! He is our loving parent who listens for our cries.
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