Ocean

As Mel and I walked the beach, I stood still for a few minutes and watched as the waves danced among the rocks. The water glided over the rocks as a child being covered in a blanket and yet with one surge the momentum changed and the waves hit with great intensity. There was a gentle breeze, and the sun was peeking out of the clouds before its morning debut. What is it about the ocean scene that casts a peaceful presence among those in its midst? The sounds of the birds anxiously seeking their morning breakfast, the wonder as we cast our eyes to the vastness of the view, the seaweed left behind as a reflection of water highs and lows, the fragmented shells slightly bedded beneath the sand, the perplexity of water currents, the occasional reminder as a fish jumps that there are many living creatures living within the boundless waters..... all make up the seascape.

Our God is a God of detail, and we see his hand so clearly in the nature that surrounds us if only we take the time to be still and activate our senses. Maybe the reason the ocean casts such a peaceful presence over me is that I have moved away from the distractions that pull me from my focus on God himself. As I look beyond the beach to the waters, I am reminded of how big God is and how small I am. How big his world is and how small mine is. My thoughts get so bottled up sometimes that I do need to take time to be still and quiet and reflect on the Lord who lives within me, instead of the world that surrounds me. The ocean is one of those places where I am able to uncork the worldly build up and allow it to be replaced by Christ's offerings instead.

A.W. Tozer, an accomplished Christian pastor, speaker and author wrote a great illustration about an ocean that helps me to better understand the bigness of God and the littleness of me.

He said, "Being filled with the fullness of God is like a bottle in the ocean. You take the cork out of the bottle and sink it in the ocean, and you have the bottle completely full of ocean. The bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle. The ocean contains the bottle, but the bottle contains only a little bit of the ocean. So it is with the Christian."

We are filled unto the fullness of God, but, of course, we cannot contain all of God because God contains us; but we can have all of God that we can contain. If we only knew it, we could enlarge our vessel. The vessel gets bigger as we go on with God. The Counselor, page 68, by A.W. Tozer

Ephesians 3:19 (New International Version)19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:19 (Amplified Bible) [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses [mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and]become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

Just as vast as we see the ocean to be...so much greater is God than we can imagine. We fill our lives with such unnecessary clutter in action and thought, when, if we would only focus on Christ who lives within us, we would not be so encumbered with our details but would be freed by his. God who directs us, protects us, forgives us, claims us, enables us but who most of all loves us.

That peace that engulfed me on my ocean walk is a peace that is available to me in my kitchen, in my car, in my closet and everywhere I go. For the peace of Christ is within me...and my content lies in that filling of substance not my filling of aimless attractions.

Waves of discontent or fear or frustration have a tendency to crest when they hit my rocky shores of distrust. But if I allow the Lord to fill me with his word, his faithfulness, his peace and his truth then when those waves of unrest come barreling toward my shore they will hit his rock of salvation and gently cover me with his grace.

Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Dear Lord, How I love the way that you bring my thoughts back unto you. Please fill me with you...your grace, your forgiveness, your wisdom, your strength, your courage, your love and your peace. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!