Constant strength in a changing current

by Patrick McKay

Canoeing is one of the greatest outdoor activities that a person can do.  It’s a refreshing blend of relaxing / unwinding and yet challenging / rewarding.  Being out on the water leads you to realize and appreciate God’s creation, to really look at the beauty that the created world has to offer.    Going downstream and letting the current take you is soothing, an almost carefree ride.  With the exception of a few downed trees or sand bars, which easily can be avoided with enough practice, the experience is very enjoyable. 

But have you ever tried to paddle upstream?  It is quite a different experience.  You must fight the current and steer your canoe, all the while being out of breath from paddling so hard.

In our spiritual lives there are times when we feel like we are paddling upstream and against the changing current of how the world wants us to live.  One moment the current pushes us one way and then will throw us back the other.  The current is never constant; it is always changing.   The Bible describes the ways of this world with a similar analogy, depicting this world’s influences like the roiling of muddy water:  "The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud" (Isaiah 57:20).  

However, God’s word is not like the constant churning of the sea or the changing current of a river, always fluctuating, always twisting.  God’s word is always constant.  It is always unchanging.  The word of our God is “imperishable … living and enduring. … The word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:23,24).  The word of God is as firm as God himself, who assures us, “I the Lord, do not change” (Malachi 3:6). 

What a blessing it is to rely on an unchanging God and the consistent message that his word tells us.  God tells us that although we were sinful, lost and condemned, he sent his Son Jesus to suffer, die, and rise again in glory.  Connected to Christ, by faith given us by the Holy Spirit, we are called children of God, with all our sins forgiven.  When the current of life in this world makes it hard to paddle, remember what a marvelous and consistent message that God’s word tells us about Jesus and the life we have in him.