"...your love is better than life" Psalm 63:3
I grew up on the south shore of Long Island, a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. As a kid, my mother would take us to the beach...we would get to wade in the water until it was about four inches deep...all holding hands and huddling together...before retreating to the shore for a sandwich and a peach.
At some point though, I got old enough to venture out into deeper water...(with friends, and not my mother) and it was an enlightening experience to have my first wave break on top of me. The realization that, at least for the moment, I had no power of my own to come to my feet as the wave knocked me down and rolled me like a pair of dice...I was completely at the mercy of a power I had not previously encountered. For a moment, up or down didn't really make much difference...then, mercifully, the wave, having had its way with me, dissipated, and I, sputtering sandy, salty water, weakly stood up, speechless at the terror of that experience.
So...how is it, I ask myself...that I come to know the truth of these six amazing words?...it is not derived from the highest achievement of my intellectual abilities, nor from the benefit of my 'higher' education, nor, for that matter, anything "taught" to me in a Bible study. It is closer, I think, to that wave...it broke on top of me, had its way with me, and left me to get back on my feet, speechless, awed by the power of that wave, and with a whole new awareness of the ocean.
The notation for Psalm 63 states the psalm was written by David when he was in the desert of Judah...this verse came to me a few hours after my biopsy results were given to me...came to me as I was driving my Suburu to pick up some Chinese food...not exactly a desert...but nonetheless...I was a bit emotionally parched...
and these 6 amazing words washed over me...or, more accurately, broke over me, like a wave. Knocked me down, had their way, and left me...awed by His love...
When you've been knocked down by a wave, there are no more questions to ask about the power of the ocean...you know...
I just know...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That took my breath away as a young child growing up in Venice Beach, California.... as your writing and your path do now.... and as long as I have breath, I will send prayers heavenward (is it a direction?) for you.
ReplyDeleteSteve, Thanks for courageously sharing. I am challenged, moved, and humbled as I read your blog. We continue praying for you daily. God bless, Jim
ReplyDelete