Shells In The Sand

          

          Friends of mine went on a cruise recently and looked forward to a week of warm weather, rest and relaxation.  They left port without incident, but it wasn’t long before the water became choppy and rough as wave swells licked the side of the port holes in their cabin.  The next day didn’t prove much better, as the waves continued to batter the boat causing it to bounce from wave to wave.  Needless to say, they were pleased when the boat reached their destination and were able to wiggle their toes in the warm sand.

Our life journey is much like this.  We make a decision, certain, “good times are ahead,” and then once we enter the circumstance we find ourselves shaken to the core by satan, as he schemes to deliver blow after blow to our confidence in having made the right decision. 

Sometimes our confidence is shaken because we really have made the wrong decision.  We joined ranks with someone (or something) which we knew going in, wasn’t of God, yet the world, through demonic means, has the ability to make even things we know to be wrong, alluring.  We made a decision without consulting God first, got caught up in the sticky web and find ourselves fighting for our spiritual lives!

Other times our confidence is shaken because God wants to test us.  He uses circumstances to make us stronger because He knows what is before us.  We might need this trial to be able to deal with something larger and more foreboding than what we have before us at the present time.  It’s in these trials, we learn to lean more on Him.  The truth is, “stuff happens.”  We live in a fallen world and bad things happen to good people. It may have nothing to do with our choice, but the world’s.  God is strengthening our spirit so we can endure a greater coming, hardship.

It’s times like these when we have to look for the little nuggets, like “shells in the sand” so we can see the glimmer of blessing in whatever situation we are in.  These blessings can remind us that trouble has a limited time and space in this world, but salvation is eternal and the time will come, as a saved child of God, when the trials and evils of this world will no longer be.   We are conquerors, and will prevail completely!

            I won’t suggest or even infer our days will be easy, even when we make the right choice.  The world and satan are all around us ready to “throw sand in the joints” so things seem to grate and grind.  God has the right ingredients or “medicine” which can be found in His Word or through prayer to help us move forward.  It is through him we can be cleansed and made whole.  It is by His power we have the ability to see the shells in the sand, even when the wave is ready to pull us into the unforgiving current.