“The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the Lord! Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.” – Psalm 93
A rock in God’s ocean,
a rock shaped, formed, and eroded in God’s power and patience.
A pillar, sculpted by the wind and water of his Spirit.
A pillar, an example pointing to God.
Sitting on Christ’s stone foundation,
a foundation shaped and flattened against the desert sands,
a refuge in the apparent wild.
Will you seek him?
Will you ask to enter into his presence?
Will you be present to meet him?
Will you be humble before him?
Sitting on Christ’s foundation,
silent in solitude with Jesus,
meditating, praying, enjoying the company of Christ.
Yet your arms become heavy,
your legs encased in stone,
your body unable to move,
formed as a statue in the wilderness,
a rock for all eternity to see.
A pillar meditating on Jesus Christ.
Unable to move without Christ’s release,
only able to deeply breathe the peace of Christ’s Spirit,
your muscles are encased in the statue’s stone.
Your heart beats.
Your blood flows.
A subtle anxiety courses in your heart.
A nervousness beats in your body,
trapped by the stone Christ has encased you in.
“What is the meaning of this?”
You ask Jesus.
“If there is a lesson in this, please let me know.”
You say to Jesus.
Jesus smiles.
The Spirit’s presence glows bright.
A moment passes in the desert sand’s silence.
Your anxious heart beats faster.
“All you must do is rest in my presence,
and I will take care of you.”
“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
A test of faith.
A lesson in patience.
An exercise in giving up control.
The future uncertain,
but trusting God with everything that will come.
“Help me have faith.”
You say to Jesus.
“Help me learn to wholly rest in you.”
You ask Jesus.
“Help me trust in your sovereignty and love.”
You pray to Jesus.
Slowly, you are released.
Patiently, your cocoon disappears.
Yet with the challenge given to your heart, mind, and soul.
The challenge to rest given to you.
The power of God – his authority and sovereignty greater than the oceans that shape the earth.
The waters that build, erode, destroy, create, and give life.
He is even greater.
You are a rock, shaped by his oceans, eroded by his waves.
The strength of the stone built up,
the weakness sheared off,
weathered away by time spent in his presence,
in the power of his waters.
His ocean is shaping you into the pillar he needs you to be.
Resting in him forms you into the pillar you are to become.
He is the ocean.
You are the rock at his edge,
shaped so that others will see his work.
Others come, seeking God’s ocean,
seeing the meditating, praying individual at the sea’s edge,
powerfully pointing to his work.
Solitary, silent, humble before God.
A servant, yet a marker for who he is.
Unwavering, shaped and moved only by the power of God’s waters.
To be a pillar of God, a rock shaped and weathered by him alone, one who towers, demonstrates, and points to God as one of his saints, one must first learn to rest in silence and stillness before his power and truth, before the raw force of an ocean crashing against the rough and rocky crags, sharpened cliffs, and heavy boulders of the stone formations at the edge his shore.
The Kayaking Church 