Psalm 42 - Two men in a boat.
Ruth and I love watching ‘Animal Park’. It’s great :o)
Through our enjoyment of the show we have developed quite a fondness for the two presenters, Kate Humble and Ben Fogle. And so we held our breathe in alarm when we discovered that Ben had decided to enter a trans-Atlantic rowing race with the Olympic medal winner, James Cracknell! The thought of our lovely Ben Fogle in a rowing boat somewhere in the fierce Atlantic worried us. (We should really get out more :o)
We followed their progress willing them to row faster so that they could reach the safety of the finish line sooner. Then one morning our hearts then nearly stopped when we heard that their boat had been capsized by waves 700 miles away from the finish!
It happened at night. Ben was manning the oars for a few hours while James slept in their small cabin (they had maintained this relentless shift pattern across the whole of the Atlantic). Then a rouge wave came up from behind them flipping the boat right over and hurling Ben into the Atlantic.
Suddenly being bounced of the cabin ceiling was enough to quickly bring James to his senses. Realising that they must have been capsized he raced out of the cabin but couldn’t Ben on the boat and it was pitch black out to sea!
Ben had been flung deep into the ocean and for a moment he thought that it, everything was over for him. The strength of the ocean meant that it took him a while to swim back to the surface and when he had he found himself surrounded by waves the size of houses! Miraculously he was not far from the boat and James was able to eventually rescue him.
Unsurprisingly Ben was shaken up by the whole ordeal and went into shock. It took him sometime to mentally recover, but they had a job to do. They had to keep rowing, they had no choice.
Psalm 42:7-8 (NIV)
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
We may find it tough trying to navigate through the storms of life at times, or we may even find ourselves being flung from the boat and surrounded by giant waves. Even there, though, we are not alone. God is in charge; He directs the show. God protects our lives night and day… not that he takes all control from us and makes things soft and cuddly, He lets us live our lives, but He is our shield!
Jonah discovered this, even though he found himself unable to swim and in rough seas. God let no harm come to him and inventively provided safety. When Paul was held prisoner on a ship God told him things were going to be OK, and then they were shipwrecked! Despite this not one of the crew or passengers lost their lives. Just as God had promised!
The safety that God provides may not always be the one we are looking for.
All we may hear in our ears at times is the howl of the storm but in our hearts we can hear the Lord’s song over us. A song which storms obey!
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
Gen 15:1 (NIV)
Through our enjoyment of the show we have developed quite a fondness for the two presenters, Kate Humble and Ben Fogle. And so we held our breathe in alarm when we discovered that Ben had decided to enter a trans-Atlantic rowing race with the Olympic medal winner, James Cracknell! The thought of our lovely Ben Fogle in a rowing boat somewhere in the fierce Atlantic worried us. (We should really get out more :o)
We followed their progress willing them to row faster so that they could reach the safety of the finish line sooner. Then one morning our hearts then nearly stopped when we heard that their boat had been capsized by waves 700 miles away from the finish!
It happened at night. Ben was manning the oars for a few hours while James slept in their small cabin (they had maintained this relentless shift pattern across the whole of the Atlantic). Then a rouge wave came up from behind them flipping the boat right over and hurling Ben into the Atlantic.
Suddenly being bounced of the cabin ceiling was enough to quickly bring James to his senses. Realising that they must have been capsized he raced out of the cabin but couldn’t Ben on the boat and it was pitch black out to sea!
Ben had been flung deep into the ocean and for a moment he thought that it, everything was over for him. The strength of the ocean meant that it took him a while to swim back to the surface and when he had he found himself surrounded by waves the size of houses! Miraculously he was not far from the boat and James was able to eventually rescue him.
Unsurprisingly Ben was shaken up by the whole ordeal and went into shock. It took him sometime to mentally recover, but they had a job to do. They had to keep rowing, they had no choice.
Psalm 42:7-8 (NIV)Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
We may find it tough trying to navigate through the storms of life at times, or we may even find ourselves being flung from the boat and surrounded by giant waves. Even there, though, we are not alone. God is in charge; He directs the show. God protects our lives night and day… not that he takes all control from us and makes things soft and cuddly, He lets us live our lives, but He is our shield!
Jonah discovered this, even though he found himself unable to swim and in rough seas. God let no harm come to him and inventively provided safety. When Paul was held prisoner on a ship God told him things were going to be OK, and then they were shipwrecked! Despite this not one of the crew or passengers lost their lives. Just as God had promised!
The safety that God provides may not always be the one we are looking for.
All we may hear in our ears at times is the howl of the storm but in our hearts we can hear the Lord’s song over us. A song which storms obey!
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
Gen 15:1 (NIV)
posted by Andrew at 7:37 am
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