Tuesday, March 9: Sitting on the dock of the bay!

Have you ever noticed how the troubles of life come at you in waves? The old adage says that they happen in threes. Sometimes, I just stop counting! According to Paul, that is exactly what we are supposed to do. Instead of counting our losses, we need to count everything that happens to us as a Christian as a gain for Christ, and more importantly, as a gain of Christ. Most people worry about the loss of money, and being that money drives this Satan-dominated world, that should be no surprise.


7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11


I can’t help but think of the waves of trouble and how analogous that is to a tsunami. Isn’t that how it feels sometimes, like a tsunami has just hit your life? When the 8.8 earthquake hit coastal Chile on February 27, it caused a tsunami that also devastated the Chilean coast. Yet when the plates moved against each other at the ocean floor, they displaced so much water that the ensuing tsunami began to move across the ocean at an alarmingly high rate of speed. Amazingly, the residual of the tsunami hit on the California coast 6,000 miles away! Someone posted a video of the waves arriving in the Dana Point harbor, and it was astounding to see the water flow out of the harbor channel, as a tug boat fought against the current. Here's a link to the Dana Point tsunami:
Click here!


God created this world and created the balance of every element on this earth. How can we not see His existence or hand in our daily lives? He controls every aspect, including the extent of each wave from the mighty ocean. Just listen in on this conversation God has with Job:


8“Or who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When I fixed My limit for it,
And set bars and doors;
11 When I said,
‘This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!’
Job 38:8-11


If He cares about the waves of the ocean, God also cares about the waves of trouble in your life! Jesus certainly had bigger difficulties to face than we do, and we are in the fellowship of His suffering as believers. The simple fact that God allowed His Son to suffer should remind us what is in store for each of us as believers. If you feel like there is a tsunami there, then you have a choice. You can either give up and let the wave take you under, or you can ride the wave! You can remain on top of it with God’s help and in the process, He will show you things you never would have seen from below the water!