Heart of Worship Tuesday: Oceans

In the past few years, a song has touched me like no other. It began as a contemporary worship song penned by Matt Crocker, Joel Houston, and Salomon Ligtelm.

The story behind this song is simply that it is based on the story of Peter in the New Testament walking on the water to Jesus. (Matt. 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-56, John 6:16-24.)

The song contains these words:

You call me out upon the water
The great unknown, where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep, my faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise my soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours, and You are Mine.

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fears surround me
You never fail and You won't start now

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours, and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my faith could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior

This song describes the call from God to us to step out in absolute faith. He asks things of us that seem terrifying and impossible at times. Peter asked Jesus if he could come to Him on the water, and Jesus told him to do so. Peter, in absolute faith, stepped onto the water and began to walk! A mere man walked on water!

Granted, he did fall when he took his eyes off of Jesus. But, that is life; yet Peter still had faith that Jesus would save him, which is why he cried out to Him to do so. When we fall, that is EXACTLY what we should do: cry out to Jesus! The song itself is a resolve to choose to keep their "eyes above the waves" and stay focused on Christ. It is to trust that He will never lead us wrong, no matter where it goes.

Then, the song asks the spirit to "lead me where my trust is without borders". This is the kind of faith we should have. Borders denote limits, or even fear. True, fruit producing faith in Christ breaks down these limits and fears we have. As human beings, we often think that we are unable to do something that God asks of us. With God, there is nothing we cannot do, and nothing is impossible. We just have to take a deep breath and let go, and tell God that we will submit to whatever His will is. He knows better than we do, and His plan is so great and vast like the ocean. We just have to walk it and keep our eyes on Him the best that we can.

"What is impossible for man, is possible for God."- Luke 18:27

"...For Truly, I say to you, if you have faith like the grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there', and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."-Matthew 17:20

Accepting Life's Little (and Big) Surprises

Recently, I went through one of the most difficult weeks of my life. A lot of changes were coming at me at once, and everything that I had been expecting to happen were falling apart in front of my very eyes. Everything came to a screeching halt.

I didn't want to do much when everything happened. However, I kept forcing myself to do things because I knew that it was better than wallowing. I was even tempted to skip out on going to church services because I wasn't sure I could sit through services without bursting into  tears. Yet, I went anyway. I'm so glad I did, too.

I'm sure that God worked out somehow for me to hear certain things, because I needed to hear them. During the time, I was staying with some friends, and at the congregation they attend they had been studying about Mary, the mother of Jesus.

In Luke 1:26-38, Mary is being told that she is about to be the mother of the Messiah. As would be expected, she had some surprise and confusion, especially since she'd never been with a man before. This is HUGE-think about it-you're a good, wholesome God fearing young girl and you've just been told that you are about to bear a child. I'm sure if many of us were in her shoes in her time we'd be afraid and wondering what this would do to our reputation.

What she does next shows us just how much she trusted her God. When the Angel of the Lord finished telling her everything that was going to happen, she simply said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (38)

She accepted it and trusted God enough to work everything out, even though she didn't completely understand everything yet. And in some verses later on, we see Mary joyfully singing to God in awe, humbleness, and thanks (46-55). This event came in and completely changed the direction of her life. She simply let go, and allowed God to work in whatever way He saw fit.

This made me think about my situation a lot. While my situation isn't quite the same as Mary's by a long shot, I realize that God is working. While I don't entirely understand yet why things took a turn the way that they did, I know that He is completely in control. He sees my story from beginning to end. There are things He wants me to learn, experience and figure out. He's leading me to the next stage in my life. He'll use my situation to help me grow.

Over the week afterwards, I noticed something happening to my heart. It didn't hurt as much. It was because I released my grasp on the situation and gave it up to God. I was (and still am) a little sad, but my heart was starting to fill with a joy of knowing that I'm not going through this alone. God is holding my hand, and He makes me strong (Philippians 4:13).

God's plans are usually a lot different than our own. I've been learning that lately. No matter how I or anyone may try to resist, His plans always prevail. But, I know that it'll turn out okay. One of my very favorite verses says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)

There's also this one: "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

The truth is, every thing is going to be alright. Release your grip and let God do what He's going to do.