Are you fighting the current?

A youth pastor almost drowned trying to save a fellow swimmer. The pastor had been trained as a lifeguard and felt confident of his ability to rescue his friend, a weak swimmer, who was swimming too far from shore. Both got caught in a dangerous undertow. My pastor friend began losing strength and panicked. He said, “Slipping out to sea, I began to fear for our lives as I tried to pull him in to shore. It seemed like a nightmare. No one was there to help us as we drifted further out! I seriously thought that this would be my last day on earth until I prayed with great desperation: ‘Lord Jesus, help us!’

“After praying, a thought struck me—‘don’t fight the current, swim sideways!’ This advice was common sense, but I had forgotten it in the terror of the moment. I listened to that voice. Unbeknownst to us, within twenty feet was a sandbar. We soon stood in ankle-depth water hundreds of yards from the beach. We were safe!”

How many times have we been like these two, trying to fight the current on our own, even to the point of exhaustion? Too often we make decisions without consulting the Holy Spirit. Many times we act as if we are independent rather than dependent on God. God’s will is never to hurt or hold us down, but to give us the wonderful privilege of depending on the Lord.

Are you in the midst of trouble in your life and fighting the current? “My help comes from the Lord…” the psalmist declares in Psalm 121:2. Today is the day to rest in God to lead you to safety.