When you pass through the waters, I will be with you

When I became a Christian I never imagined it would be as difficult and as challenging as it has been, but then neither did I realise the fierce battle I'd just entered. That said, it's been and continues to be the most amazing adventure I could ever have hoped to be on

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Do you ever find yourself in the valleys or on the mountain tops of life? Do you ever feel that your life is sometimes like an out of control whirlwind or on a roundabout that's going so fast that you can't get off, and then at other times that life is so great that you don't want it to stop? Well it seems to me that for almost everyone, that's life! Just recently we as a family have been going through some very testing and very difficult times, and for me personally there's been moments when I've felt alone and have found it very difficult to hold things together. It's like I've been on one of those roundabouts and just wanted to get off, what you might call a 'down in the valley' experience, (deep down). During these low moments, I was reminded of a song that we used to sing some years ago, in my last church called 'Find me in the River', the words of which I found to be poignant and powerful. The first verse starts off with 'Find me in the river, find me on my knees, I've walked against the water now I'm waiting if you please’. Sometimes life is just like that, it's as though you're walking against the waters and you're constantly fighting the current, however Jesus never promised us that life would be easy and He knows full well the pressures of life and is able to get us through them.

The second part of the first verse says, 'We've longed to see the roses, but never felt the thorns, and bought our pretty crowns, but never paid the price.' It seems to me our problem is that sometimes we take our eyes off Jesus and try to do things our own way, and when things inevitably go wrong we expect God to fix them. We really do need to wake up sometimes and ask ourselves if we've ever felt the thorns or paid the price? All we seem to want is the nice smelling roses and the pretty crowns. When we read the account of Jesus’s suffering and pain, before He was crucified, in Matthew 27:27-31, it is clear to see Jesus felt real pain and suffering and paid the price, for you and for me once and for all; ‘Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him’. Praise Jesus.

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The chorus continues 'Find me in the river find me there, find me on my knees with my soul laid bare, even though You're gone and I'm cracked and dry, find me in the river I'm waiting here’. Are we prepared to be still and wait on the Lord even when we're in the river fighting the current, feeling cracked and dry and at our wits end, are we prepared to cry out to the Lord and then wait instead of just constantly talking at Him? Matthew 6:33 ‘But seek first his kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well' and Psalm 46:10 ‘He says, Be still, and know that I am God’. The second part of the second verse says; 'We didn't count on suffering, we didn't count on pain, but if the blessings in the valley, then in the river I will wait’. I've often found the greatest growth in my Christian walk is when I've had to go through some of the toughest or most difficult times in my life, it is at these times that I have received some of the greatest blessings. Although I would not have chosen to go through these times I've ended up strengthened and built up in my faith because of them. When I became a Christian I never imagined it would be as difficult and as challenging as it has been, but then neither did I realise the fierce battle I'd just entered. That said, it's been and continues to be the most amazing adventure I could ever have hoped to be on. Yes, I didn't count on the suffering and yes, I didn't count on the pain, but I wouldn't change it for anything, because there's nothing quite like walking the journey in a relationship with Jesus my Saviour and King. Also, when I've felt, as I have many times, like throwing in the towel, He's been there holding my hand, lifting me up and giving me the strength and courage to carry on. Amen.

So even though as I write this I'm currently in one of those valley moments, walking against the water and finding it hard at times to stand or even go on, I know with absolute assurance that Jesus is with me, and even when I don't feel He's with me, I know that if I stand in the river and wait, He'll find me there. Isaiah 4:9-10 ‘I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’ and Isaiah 43:2-3 ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour’.  For me it's like Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14, 'I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus'. Amen.

My prayer is that when you find yourself in the river, deep in the valley, walking against the waters of life, feeling cracked and dry, that you will find both a blessing and the Lord there, and even if you feel alone, you won't be because Jesus will be standing right next to you; Hebrews 13:5 Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’.

Be blessed.

Author: Kevin Hunt
 
May God bless and enrich your life  

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