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Seeking the perspective of Jesus

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” Psalm 119:105

I am overlooking the Atlantic Ocean as I write this devotional. We’re spending a few days with family at their friend’s beach house. The break from the icy weather back home is highly motivational for this guy, as I spend a lot of my time on reflection and writing. It’s an undeserved gift from my King, and I accept it gladly, with deep thanksgiving to Him. I didn’t realize how the dark of winter back home was getting to me. I love Northwest Arkansas; the springs, summers, and falls are just wonderful. However, the winters become gloomy because the trees are stripped of their green leaves. It kind of gets to me sometimes. Coming back to green pine trees in the south and walking a sunny beach brings invigoration back to this old Southerner. It has been a joyful relief as the Lord is refreshing me and giving me a new zest to get back to the work I was involved with before leaving home.

Because of my love for the sea and my history with it, I cannot help but offer some nautical analogies and share the connections I have experienced with the ocean and God’s word. The scripture above really hits home with me, as His word has consistently guided me through some perilous and frightening “storms” in life, which have also included some bad weather in a boat. The boat sank with three of us about fourteen miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, and with the experience came the sobering realization of how danger can join pleasure in boating. Thirty years ago, I was an adventurous risk-taker, and that episode got my attention. We made it through safely, and the Coast Guard picked us up on an island we could reach. We were home a few hours later. Did it discourage my love for the sea? You must hear what happened at home that afternoon to give you an idea of what I was like then. My wife came home from a morning of shopping and was surprised to see me home so early, as most of my trips in the gulf lasted all day. She saw me looking at the advertisements in the newspaper. She asked me, “What are you doing home so early?” I replied quickly, “My boat sank,” while still looking at the newspaper. Quite surprised by my announcement and knowing that losing my boat would be a big deal to me, she asked, “What are you doing now?” I replied while still reading the advertisements, “Looking for another boat!” My dangerous experience didn’t discourage me from the sea. But, it made me very respectful of it. I continued to venture out, but not without an uneasiness that stayed with me until I learned how to navigate in perilous conditions.

I became a better seaman as I learned safer boating practices. This was pre-GPS, so the compass, depth finder, and charts gave me assurance, and the navigational markers, such as a lighthouse or sea buoys, gave me a feeling of familiarity with the area of the gulf I was in. My greater comfort came from visually seeing those markers because they were easier to understand than charts, compasses, and depth finders. I could see them, touch them and even anchor to them if needed. Sometimes, they were obscured by the fog or rain, or they would be unavailable in the deeper, open sea. If that occurred, my only “lifeline” for survival in the fog or open sea was those navigational instruments. As I grew as a seaman, I understood that the mariner must learn to use these instruments. If he doesn’t, he might not make it back home; if he does, he will likely not return to the sea. I also learned that I had to trust those instruments. Believe me, when you are in a fog, you will swear that the compass is broken and not working properly, for the mind is easily tricked by “darkness”. The compass never failed me, even though there were times that I doubted it. I would have loved to be able to see things rather than desperately depend on blind faith in the compass. But, it was in the desperate clinging and dependence on the compass to get me through the darkness of the sea that I became a better seaman and, as well, connected God’s word as my compass for life. I came to understand that His word, like the compass, would guide me through my life’s storms and the obscured vision that often engulfs me. God’s word became my compass for life, which is where I connect back to the above scripture.

• God’s Word - Our Horizon: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV – There is a condition in boating called seasickness. It is a result of a disoriented perspective brought on by the waves, the pitching boat, and our inner ear becoming affected by it. In order to stabilize it, I discovered a technique: to fix my eyes on something stable, such as the horizon or an island. This would help my inner ear to stabilize and calm my seasickness. Likewise, we live in a constantly changing world. That which is being challenged most today falls under ethics, behavior, and perspectives. Since we are being told that there are no moral or ethical, or religious absolutes, the world we live in has found itself up and down like waves in the sea and has become disoriented. A man of God needs to have his own point of reference that is not dictated by the changing norms of the world. He needs a point of reference so that it stabilizes his inner man when he fixes his eyes on it. God’s word offers this stability as nothing else can.
• God’s Word - Our Compass: “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do; everywhere you go, he's the one who will keep you on track” Prov. 3: 5-12 - The Message - As I said before when the darkness of fog surrounds you in a boat, a different type of disorientation occurs. Doubts, fears, and alertness are on edge, even to the point that it can lead to “paralysis by analysis.” This is where you cannot, nor should you, trust what you feel or what you sense. You must trust your compass, not your feelings. Likewise is the disorientation that comes from evil works and bad news that comes on us like a fog. A man of God needs a compass that shows him the correct course and a correct plan of action when facing these things, and it is motivated by faith, not fear. God’s word is a man of God’s compass. “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.” Psalm 112:7
• God’s Word - Our Charts: “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16 NIV - My fishing expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico also included exploring the Louisiana Marsh, which was almost due south of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. These salt-water marshes were a series of marsh islands that gave us the best redfish that could be caught. The trouble is that I could become lost easily unless I followed the charts. One island looks like all the rest, and before long, disorientation would again set it. The charts would help me identify the islands and my course for finding my way out of them. God’s word is similar to a man of God. His word shows us a chart that will walk us through unfamiliar territory. His word helps us identify a “way out” of the confusion we often face in life. Like the compass, we must trust His chart (the Word), for it is up-to-date and relevant.
• God’s Word - Our Depth finder: “And I will walk at liberty and at ease, for I have sought and inquired for [and desperately required] Your precepts.” Psalm 119:45 Amplified Bible - The depth finder gauges the depth below the boat. Its greatest safety purpose is to keep the mariner from running aground. Because of the oyster reefs and shallow shoals that frequently surprised us when traveling across unfamiliar waters in the gulf and marshes, our eyes had to be constantly watching the trend of this gauge, or else we could become a shipwreck. The mandate was to stay on alert and watch for the rising ground beneath the boat. God’s word makes us alert to trends in our life that could lead to a shipwreck. One of the biggest indicators of a spiritual shipwreck is when our spiritual depth finder begins to alert us to a dangerous condition called “Casual Christianity.” The word “casual” immediately precedes “casualty” in the dictionary. When we are casual in our pursuit of an abiding relationship with Christ and fail to safeguard ourselves and our families against the dangers we face as men of God, we could likely be facing a heartbreaking “shipwreck” in the future. God’s word will alert us to the schemes of the enemy and the dangers we face as believers. But we cannot be casual about it. We must be on high alert. Committing to God’s word daily will give us the wisdom we need to become mighty good sailors as we navigate our lives through the storms we will inevitably face.