Smooth Sailing

Recently I went fishing in the Bahamas. It is normally an hour and a half run from my dock to the place that I fish, but this day the wind picked up significantly and it took nearly two and a half hours. The reason for the longer ride was that the seas were rougher than normal, particularly in the Gulf Stream, and we had to navigate at slower speeds through the higher and rougher than normal seas that were banging and jarring the boat so hard that we could feel it in our very teeth on practically every wave. It can be a rough uncomfortable ride and if the wind picks up too much particularly from the Northeast it can be a “bear” to safely navigate through it.

Living on the ocean is very interesting; the ocean can be very peaceful or it can rage. It is amazing to me to see the ocean change from a flat glassy “slowly moving lake” to a vicious beast with huge unrelenting and powerful waves that crash on the shoreline pulverizing anything in their path. Dependent upon its mood, the ocean can be beautiful beyond words with azure and cobalt shades of blue and crystal clear one hundred feet down, or it can be nasty dark grey, cloudy and filled with debris and mire churning throughout its angry restless body.

The Bible compares the wicked to a troubled sea “when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt”. I think this is a perfect description of the wicked. I can personally relate to this analogy, as once my lifestyle was wicked. The thing I remember the most about that period of my life was that there was never any real peace in my life, and the restlessness that I felt was so overbearing that I was miserable to the point of being suicidal. As I watch a restless angry sea it reminds me of the feeling that was inside me during that time; a feeling of raging, churning, restlessness, with my life sinking in the deep slimy mire and dirt of the world like being caught in a rip current and being carried further and further from the peaceful shores, doomed to drowning in an abyss of sin.

Fast forward to now and the peace that I enjoy in my life and it is a vivid comparison between the wickedness that I once knew and all that goes with that lifestyle. To me, few things in life are more enjoyable than being out on a beautiful ocean relaxing with my family in the warmth of the sun and soaking in the peace that can only come from God almighty our Savior.

The good news is that we have a choice. We can choose to receive peace in life which only comes from God and surpasses all human understanding, or we can choose not to accept Jesus and the restlessness, lack of peace, mire and dirt that accompanies that foolish decision. If you desire peace in your life, choose God. The Bible states, (as you can see for yourself below), that there is no peace for the wicked. Choose Christ, and you will never regret it. Smooth sailing!

Isaiah 57:20
But the wicked are like the
troubled sea,
when it cannot rest,
Whose waters cast up mire and
dirt.

“There is no peace,”
Says my God, “for the wicked.”