A Beautiful Sound

“Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13)

 

This verse caught my eyes this morning. Lots of versus I try to look up, or that I come across, have to do with God’s perfect plan or the beauty and perfection of God’s ways over mine. However, sometimes perfection is hard to see when our lives are so broken at times. So, I like the idea of not trying to see the beauty of something but, instead, admiring the brokenness.

 

You have to admit that it is not our smooth sailing and happy go lucky lives that bring us to our knees before God. Although we can look back and ask God why He would allow something to happen, when it comes down to it would you have changed it? The trials I have gone through, the valleys that Jesus has carried me out of and the mistakes I have made have done more to deepen my lean on God more than anything else in my life. I have slowly discovered that depending on me and relying on the world is not the way I was designed and we all know that when we do not use things the way the manufacturer intended the warrantee does not cover the damage.

 

Geoffrey Moore sings a song called “Beautiful Sound”. In this song he names events that make a beautiful sound: waves crashing down, knees hitting the ground, song of praise, lost being found, a proud man breaking. All these things can bring us closer to God and how much more beautiful is that? Without breaking would we still seek out God or would continue to rely on ourselves? Would we go to our Maker for redemption if we thought we could do it on our own? I thank God for the crooked path my life has taken at times because I am even more thankful for the grace that He has given me because of it.

 

“’In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,’ says the Lord’” (Jeremiah 29:12-14a)

And the waves rolled in…

“I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.” (Psalm 77: 1-3)

 Have you ever gotten to play in the ocean? The power of the waves can be absolutely incredible; something to fear and enjoy, be cautious and appreciate. The last time I was in the ocean with my parents I remember having quite the episode with a wave.

 As you walk into the ocean and the water gets deeper you can feel the undertow and strength of the water as it washes over your legs back and forth. If you go out deep enough, but not too deep, you can wave dive. What you do is wait for the right time, as the water starts to pull away from you, and then right before the wave comes you slide under the water (like sliding into a base in baseball) and let the wave flow over you. This can be a lot of fun. At Sandy’s beach, or Waimea….I can’t remember, the waves were coming in strong and my cousin and I were having a blast wave diving, only we had gone out too far.  Once you go out so far eventually you can come to a spot where the water gets shallow again, near where the wave breaks. So, my cousin and I are going in for another amazing wave dive but we weren’t in deep enough water anymore and we begun to get tossed by a wave, she was heading away from the beach and I was heading toward it.

 Have you ever been tossed by a wave? It’s quite the experience. I can’t really think of any other time when you feel so confused, helpless, and hopeless. You want to move but you can’t. You want to hit the surface but you really aren’t sure which way is up. And you are tossing and spinning, not knowing when you will catch your next breath. Luckily my dad was with us. I guess he checked to make sure someone could see me heading to the shore and that freed him up to go and save my cousin from getting too far out. My trip in was rough as my mother yanked me up by the hair and I had just enough time to catch a breath before I got pounded by another wave. The next thing I remember is laying on my belly on the beach, not able to move, while my aunt sat laughing at us and calling us whales.

 God does things a lot like my dad did for us that day. God will send someone to help us when it’s possible and other times you will know that God was the one who personally pulled you to safety. God will use any and every means to reach you whether you are tumbling in the ocean or enjoying the sunshine on the beach. Our God is beautiful and He is with us always, even if we don’t want Him there. God is always listening and always looking out for you. We need to have confidence that we are not in this world alone ever and that each breath you take God is with you and is walking right there beside you.

 “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. (Ephesians 1-6)