“The seas have lifted up, LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.” Psalm 93:3
Do you ever think of the seas as having a voice? But they do…and it is a powerful one that often speaks to people in crisis. Has it spoken to you?
I recently reread Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, which documents his groundbreaking faith that opened the doors of inland China to the Gospel. There are many aspects of this book that are worth commenting on, but I was struck again by one event in Hudson’s life that occurred at an especially low point for him. The burden of the millions of lost souls in China weighed heavily on his heart, but he was also afflicted with fear of leading others into a painful life of possible failure. Feeling stressed and low, he was invited by a friend to spend time at the ocean and it was as he walked on the beach at Brighton that he experienced a life change:
In great spiritual agony, I wandered out on the sands alone. And there the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service. I told Him that all the responsibility as to the issues and consequences must rest with Him; that as His servant it was mine to obey and to follow Him, His to direct, care for and guide me and those who might labour with me. Need I say that at once peace flowed into my burdened heart? (pg 114)
Reading Hudson Taylor’s experience reminded me of a similar incident in the life of Greg Livingstone, the founder of the Frontiers mission organization, which he described in his autobiography You’ve Got Libya: A Life Serving in the Muslim World. Greg was uncertain about what was next, and unable to fit his vision of reaching Muslims into the other organizations he had worked with. He writes:
During this time of searching, I set aside three weeks for prayer. On a walk with my Savior along a beach in Ventura, California, I finally sensed the Lord say, “Okay, it’s time.” At that moment on 28 May 1983, Frontiers was born.
In my life also God used an experience at the ocean during a time of crisis. A deeply hurtful experience caused me to question God’s purposes in my life and I wanted time to think through what was required of me. Staying in Bandon, Oregon, I sat on the porch on a hill overlooking the ocean in the afternoon and watched the fog roll in and stop, as if restrained by a hand. This happened every afternoon that week and as I contemplated the ocean and my situation, God spoke this scripture from Job to my heart:
“Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
What comfort in knowing that the waves—no matter how mighty—can go no further than God allows. I am sure there are as many reasons why God speaks through the oceans as there are listening hearts, but surely the shear size and power of those waves being constrained is a picture meant to strengthen our faith in the God that restrains them.
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