“But his delight
is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he mediates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of
water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:2-3)
The scriptures are not
merely an ancient book of wisdom, or a self-help guide, or a proof-text for a
certain brand of theology; they are the very words of God himself. They are not a text book, but a love
letter. Therefore, they must be read in
a different way than what we are used to.
They are one of the most
tangible places we encounter the Living God.
They are living and active, they are powerful and authoritative, they are
God-breathed and God-saturated. They are
the most audible and reliable voice of God that we’ve got. They guide, they correct, they encourage, and
(by the power of the Spirit) they transform.
The words of the scriptures
are deeply relevant and personal, they speak to each life specifically and to
each community corporately. They tell us
what God is like and show us how to live like him. They are like a javelin aimed at the target
of the human heart, always hitting their mark with their life-giving power.
When we delight in the words
of the scriptures, and meditate on them day and night, they produce the fruit
of life and love and freedom within us. They
plant us in solid soil and keep us from being blown around by the winds of mood
and whim and circumstance. They make us
more into the people God intended us to be.
They make us more able to love the way God intended for us to love.
Thus, when we ignore or
dismiss or belittle the words of the scriptures—when we make them less than
they were intended to be—we do so at our own expense. If we untether ourselves from their power and
their authority, and become the authority ourselves, we drift aimlessly into
our own version of the truth, which is not really truth at all.
“During the
fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.”
(Matthew 14:25)
Why the fourth watch? Why did Jesus wait so long to go out to
them? After all, they had been out on
the lake, buffeted by the wind and the waves for as many as twelve
hours. Why not go out to them
sooner? Why wait until they had been
bruised and battered and beaten?
Do you ever ask that
question? Do you ever wonder why God
seems to let the storms of life go on for so long before he eventually shows up
in the midst of them? Is he testing our
belief? Is he trying to see if we really
believe that he is able to calm the storm?
Or is he trying to see if we really believe that he is willing to? I know that I have little trouble believing
that he can, but much more difficulty believing that he will.
Regardless of the reason, I
have found that Jesus is a fourth-watch-kind-of-a-God. He tends to wait a while before he comes
out to us. And even when he does,
sometimes our circumstances are so chaotic that we still cannot recognize him.
The fourth watch is the
point where we just cannot do it anymore.
It is the place in time when we can row no more. The fourth watch is the time when we finally
cry, "Uncle!" When we say, “I just cannot
do this anymore. I’ve got nothing left.” It is the time when we have finally been
brought to the point of total desperation and absolute dependence. It is the time when we have finally come to
the end of ourselves. And unfortunately, for most of us, that is a long, long journey.
For there is something God is trying to do deep within us and bringing us
to the end of ourselves is the only way to make it happen. Otherwise we would just keep on rowing and rowing and
rowing.
It’s like God finally says: “I
want you to trust me. Not me and your
own gifts and efforts, not me and your circumstances, not even me and
your friends and family; but me alone. And you will never trust me alone
until all of the other things have been stripped away. Until you have come to the end of yourself
and there is nothing else, and no one else, left to cling to but me. That’s when I’ve finally got you where I want
you. That’s when true growth and
transformation can take place. That’s when
you finally reach the point where you can become all that I dreamt you
to be.”
So if it takes until the fourth
watch to get me there, then I suppose it’s worth it, huh?
Lord Jesus, help me to know that when you wait until the fourth watch
to come out to me, you are not just being difficult. You are trying to accomplish something very
good in me. Help me to never let the
storms of this life, or the timing of your coming, make me doubt the goodness
of your heart.