Don’t Tread Water; Trust In The Lord’s Rescue

Word of the Day: ‘Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.’ (Psalm 37:5)

Psalm 37:5 is a reminder to us to ensure we are tuned into the Lord, and to trust His ways and His provisions. His ways and provisions may not be in the ways or manner that we think He should provide for us.

Often, we have a plan in mind to get out of a jam, or we believe that the obvious answer will be what the Lord will open before us. But our mindset, if so entrenched, often blinds us and prevents us from taking the ‘open door’ the Lord gives us to escape our woes.

Sometimes, this is pride. We don’t accept the charity of others who wish to help us in a time of need. Sometimes, it is taking an action that Jesus shows is in front of us, but either out of fear or stubbornness, we won’t act upon it.

Remember, the Lord will provide for you – but again, like the allegory of the guy in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, don’t think that it will be miraculous – use common sense… 

The allegory begins with Hurricane Katrina a couple days away from striking the city of New Orleans. A gentleman sees people begin to get into their cars and drive off to get away from the storm’s path.

His mind, however, despite the evidence in front of him that he should get into his car and drive off as well. he tells himself to stay, that the Lord will protect him and will not allow him to perish.

The storm bears down, and just before it hits, a bus came into the neighborhood, and a man knocks on the man’s door, but the guy said, ‘the Lord will save me!’, and watches the bus drive off. 

Katrina comes roaring in, and the pumps in the city’s levees are overwhelmed. The floodwaters starts coming in slowly, at first. The streets are covered in water.

Now a boat comes into the neighborhood, and all the residents save the man get in it. As the waters slapped his front door, and the guy said to the rescuers, ‘the Lord will save me!’.  So the boat slowly pulls away from him and his street.

The rain continues, and the waters are now pouring over the levees, and the waters rise even higher. The man climbs onto his roof, as his house is now submerged. When the helicopter came to save him, dropping down a ladder for the man to climb, the guy said, ‘the Lord will save me!’, and waves the helicopter off.

Well, as the man awaits a miracle, the waters rose even higher, so the guy got swept away in the torrent and drowned.  Now facing our Lord in Heaven, the guy exclaims, “My Lord Jesus!  I am happy to be with You forever!  But why did You not rescue me from Hurricane Katrina?”

Jesus replied to the man, in a loving tone: “I sent a bus, a boat, and a helicopter, My son – what else did you want Me to send?”

The man had Faith, but wasn’t tuned into the fact that often the Righteous suffer alongside the unrighteous; God will protect His people but the dangers of this world will affect them.

God’s protection includes the provision of common sense. One cannot simply bury their head in sand and think their problems won’t affect them. In Florida, it is proper to prepare for hurricanes, while in California it would be to build homes that can withstand earthquakes.

What the fictional account of the man in New Orleans (we hope it was a fictional account, anyway) represents is what we often do; we mistake Faith countering the common sense approaches that are in front of us, those approaches that God provides daily that we think are beneath our sensibilities.

Sometimes it is not just for our benefit but for the benefit of another. If you’re on a road trip, sometimes it’s necessary to stop at a gas station, to get gas and ‘use the facilities’.

I usually try to strike up a brief conversation with the person at the register, and on rare occasion that person will open up and provide what is troubling them.

We recently had a young woman who was our waitress in a restaurant confide that she was told to move out of her mother’s home and was struggling. My wife and I prayed with this woman and encouraged her to remain strong in the Lord.

It was all we could do, given we were passing through, but she was very grateful as it gave her strength to know people were going to pray for her. Had we not asked, or simply kept to ourselves, her suffering would have continued to be within herself and likely would not think of turning to Jesus for a solution.

Trust in the Lord, not for miracles to resolve your problems (though He can do that, of course), but for those common-sense solutions that are often in front of us. We are not alone, and through God He provides resources and help to resolve our issues, if we are not too prideful to ask or to act.

Don’t be trying to tread troubled water like that man in New Orleans! You’ll only die tired and soggy; swallow your pride and get on the bus, the boat, or the helicopter, or even better, use the common sense the Lord provides and drive away in your car before such a storm comes ashore.