Author
Philip Yancey tells the story of a friend of his who decided to go
for an
evening swim in a lake near his cottage.
As the man swam along, fog enveloped the lake. Unable to see any landmarks,
the man turned
around and began to swim back to shore.
Soon, though, he wondered if he was going exactly the right
way, so he
turned a little to his right and kept swimming.
A few minutes later, he began to panic.
He had no idea which way to go.
Swimming the wrong way in the fog and in the dark on a
large lake could end
badly, so, in an effort to calm himself, he floated on his back
and caught his
breath. Then he began
swimming
again. This went on for
more than a half
an hour until the man was completely lost.
He knew that the shore existed.
He knew it was real. He
just was
not sure that he was ever going to find it.
Can
you
relate to that? It is not
that I ever
really doubt whether God exists or that he is out there somewhere. I have no trouble believing
that part. However, when
trouble comes, when the fog
rolls in and I cannot see the way very clearly, it is easy for me
to wonder,
“Will God rescue me? Will
I find the
right way?”
In
Psalm 3, David says things like, “You, Lord, are a shield around
me… I call out
to the Lord, and he answers me… the Lord sustains me”. It is a very confident and
assured piece of
writing. The interesting
part, though,
is that David did not write these words when things were easy. In fact, the note at the
start of the Psalm
says, “A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom”.
Absalom
was David’s third son. A
handsome and
powerful young man (2 Samuel 14:25), Absalom gathered enough
supporters to
start a rebellion. David
was forced to
run for his life and it is during this time, when he family and
his kingdom are
both coming apart at the seams, that he writes the beautiful words
of Psalm
3.
It
is
one thing to believe in God and follow him when times are good. It is quite another to keep
believing when
things are difficult, the way is confusing and you do not know
exactly how
things will end.
Back
to
the swimmer in the lake for a moment.
Eventually, he heard his wife calling his name. He focused on her voice, swam
toward it and
found his way home.
God
is calling.
If
we,
like David, focus on God instead of the fog, he will lead us home.
Comments