Have you ever seen the movie Blue Crush? The one about three friends and sisters, doing life on their own with little money and no adult figure to help guide them, that LOVE surfing? Well, at the end of the movie, the main girl gets the opportunity to compete in her dream competition - the biggest surfing challenge around. She is encouraged by her friends to enter and participate despite the terrors of her last competition - one where she nearly died by the waves. After overcoming her fear and embarking on her chance to win this challenge, she is drug under by the huge, torrential waves which she was supposed to be surfing on. Awesome. Her biggest nightmare is happening again. And yet, right at the last moment before total suffocation and despair, she gets the energy and will-power to conquer the waves, return to oxygen, and finish the competition. She ends up winning the event making her the most sought after female surfer. That's pretty intense.
Just like that movie shows one girl beating the odds and conquering the waves, we too must conquer the storms of life. Yes, we have seasons of life. But, sometimes those seasons turn into storms - it all just seems to pour down on you, infiltrating every nook and cranny of peace, light, and hope. The disciples experienced one of these storms during their time with Jesus. You know the story - they were in the boat, a storm came, they grew fearful and lost faith that the Lord would bring them through the downpour and huge waves, and then were saved by His Power in the end. This also correlates with when Peter walked on the water towards Jesus, full of faith and confidence, until he lost total focus on the Prize and began to sink. He too was saved by the Lord.
In both of these New Testament stories, we see events where the storm of life was great, and very real. The dangers and fears of the moment are tangible even for readers today. We understand the hopelessness of feeling like we are being drowned by life. Aren't we supposed to feel vivacious and energetic, after all, in LIFE? Well, yes, but sometimes we are brought to the wilderness because we need a change of heart, expectations, and settings - just as the Israelites needed to get out of Egypt. Sometimes, God allows us to enter a time of unknowns, unchartered territory, and emptiness so that we will learn to call on him, learn to depend on the mercy and light of our Father in order to get through each moment of life.
The key part of that last sentence is to CALL ON HIM. The disciples had to do it when they frantically woke up their Lord saying “Lord! Save us! We are going to drown!” (Matthew 8: 25). Peter also had to cry out for the Lord, “Lord, save me!”, after taking his focus off of Jesus for a moment. Moses also cried out to the Lord and suddenly his people had fresh drinking water – a relief from the bitter water they had found in the wilderness. It is natural for us to NEED God, that is why we are here, afterall! But, the Lord will wait for us to cry out for him, wait for us to acknowledge that we need his mercy and miraculous ways. It is in the eye of the storm, the heart of the despair, that we most see our need for His Hand and Heart to guide us, and to ultimately save us from our own destruction.
I have started a daily “cry out” to God. Maybe it is asking for a way to serve my roommate or those around me. Maybe it is asking for clarity in how I think and process through my daily emotions of peace and anxiety, comfort and loneliness, anticipation and anxiety. How will you cry out to the Lord today?
Marfa means…an oasis in my wilderness.
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