Thoughts on Four Seas

There is so much history in the Bible, but we have to reflect on its geography also. Not just the history of Israel, but the geography of the Promised Land. The setting. On one side, the Great Sea, the Mediterranean. The Philistines came through [or rather, over] the Great Sea from Crete. They lived in Canaan, alongside the Israelites. But the land was not theirs. They lived in the land as encroachers, or squatters; they had no legal title over the land. They came through the sea – but it was not the sea that God had in mind. God calls them the ‘uncircumcised Philistines’. They are living in the land, but they are not ‘true’, not ‘genuine’ – they lack the real experience.

So what is the real experience? They came over the Mediterranean Sea in their great ships, but they never came ‘through the Red Sea’.


Have you not wondered why the Red Sea experience is mentioned in the Bible again and again? The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. The Israelites sang the song of praise and worship after they came through the Red Sea. They went through the experience of baptism and they spontaneously sang the glorious song recorded in Exodus 15 – a fragment of which is repeated several times in the Old Testament – and which is mentioned finally in the last book, Revelation.

Now on the other side of Palestine we have two more seas – inland seas. One is a fresh sea, a living sea – and the other is a Dead Sea. The fresh-water sea is called the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberias or the Sea of Gennasaret [Chennerith]. Jesus crossed that sea several times in a boat with His disciples. He stilled that sea when a tempest raged in it. He walked over its stormy waves. Jesus is closely associated with that Sea.



The Sea of Galilee is formed by the waters of the river Jordan as they flow down from Mount Hermon. It is a fresh-water sea, full of fish. We remember how Peter one mid-morning [Luke 5] caught a huge haul of fish, so much so that his boat started sinking. We remember how in John 21 how the seven disciples caught 153 large fish – and although there were so many, the net was not broken. The Sea of Galilee is famous both for its fish and for its storms.

The Sea of Galilee receives fresh water from the mountains and sends that water downstream through the River Jordan. It receives and it gives. The water flows through it. There is a continual supply downstream into the valley of the Jordan.

But there is another Sea, the Dead Sea.


There are no fish in it. It is a heavy and stagnant sea. It receives water, but does not send the water downstream. It is a Dead Sea. You can float in that sea. Long ago, by the shores of the Dead Sea, there was a green and flourishing valley ‘like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar’, Gen 13.10. There were many prosperous cities near that sea, such as Sodom and Gomorrah. Today, the region around the Dead Sea is a desert and bears the scars of divine judgment.

I believe that God is speaking through the geography of these three Seas – the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. We can be like the Sea of Galilee – fresh and living and giving – or we can be like the Dead Sea [always receiving, not giving]. But the important thing is that we all need to go ‘through the Red Sea’. It is that baptism [1 Cor 10.2] that is important if we want to have a living faith in the Lord Jesus [Psalm 106.12, Exod 14.31b] and allow the streams of living water to flow from us. Not just one experience, but several such experiences of the Red Sea – if we must know the power of the living God and the reality of [death-burial-and-] resurrection.

Closer to God

Thought #1

God is good. He really cares. If only we trusted in Him!

The problem is we are so half-hearted. We are not focused. We need to will with all our heart, all our strength. Yes, tell the Lord: I need YOU! I can't do anything without you! Lord, come into my life, heal me, cleanse me, wash me, strengthen me, bless me. Our prayers should be more focused. What do I want? Can't I tell Him clearly what I want, what I need? Why should my mind drift? Why can't I stay focused? Lord, save me from a wandering mind. Lord, save me from a wayward heart.

The presence of God. This is the most important thing about a Christian, about a child of God. I have His presence with me. I have to recognize that. I can lose that presence - the sense of that Presence! Straightaway, we begin to understand the Psalms. They have a lot to do with the presence of God. Do we have such a close, intimate walk with God? Am I conscious of the fact that He lives in my spirit? in my heart? He is there! And I have to get in touch with Him...to hear His still small whisper. To feel His loving and living touch. The warm embrace of His presence. 'Under the shadow of His wings', as David puts it.

Lord, give me the strength to continue this Journal.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Still Closer to God

Thought #2

Being still closer to God. How can I be intimate with God? By being honest, holy and humble. Lord, you know I love you. Lord, you know my heart. Lord, you know how weak I am. How often I have grieved your Spirit! Lord, I want to be close to you, to experience the wonderful Presence of the Lord.

It is a fact. There is the Presence of the Lord. He is right there by your side. He is right there in your heart. A loving and living God. A loving God. How often I have grieved Him! How often my wayward heart has sought other pleasures! The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. O wretched man that I am! Again and again I have failed. Lord, I need you. You have to hold me with your right hand. You have to lead me and guide me. You have to keep your presence with me. 'Under the shadow of Your wings'. 'Underneath ...the everlasting arms'.

You are a real Presence. When I have gone astray in thought, word and deed - I lost your presence. But when I confessed, how quickly did the Blood heal and cleanse and revive me! You are a faithful God. You are my loving and living Lord. I worship You.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Lord, I can only keep trusting in You - keep abiding in You, in Your presence. Keep holding on to You. I have to WILL to be closer to You. I can't drift. There has to be a focus on You. It is a fight. Keep holding on to You. Keep feeding on Your word. Keep on praying: Lord, I need You. I need Your grace. Without you, I can do - I am - nothing.

In Jesus name, Amen.

5. Prayer and Coming Closer to God

Prayer and Coming Close to God

How can I come close to God? How do I feel His presence? When I read the Bible, sometimes it speaks to me. But I want God to be more real than that. Really 'real', if you know what I mean. Walking with God, talking with God...and getting answers to your prayers!

Yes, that's it. Getting answers to our prayers! There are big prayers and small prayers. Or rather, prayers for big things and prayers for small things. But whatever they may be, you've got to put your heart into it. Lord, help me. [That's how Peter prayed, and that's how David prayed!] Is God helping you in the situation you are in?

I think I must put this across in another way. Remember when Nehemiah was talking to the king. He was praying in his heart. That's how it should be. Sometimes you pray even as you talk. You're praying inside, while talking 'outside'. That conveys intensity. You are really putting your 'will' into it. You mean it! Those little, intense, unspoken prayers to God that flow rapidly even as you are caught in some tough situation.

Unless I have a 'pray without ceasing' attitude and 'keeping in touch with God' - it's so easy to break away from Him. The natural tendency is to drift away from Him. We need to push closer to Him, hold on to Him, 'hug Him tight' as it were.

He is a real God. It is a real Presence. When you lose that presence, then you say, as David did, in Psalm 30: 'You hid Your face, and I was dismayed'.

Lord, help me explain this clearly to whoever is reading this, so that the message touches his/her heart with the 'touch of God'. Amen.

Psalm 77

This is Asaph's Psalm. He wrote some powerful psalms. They come from the bottom of his heart. When we pray do we really mean what we pray? Do we put our heart into our prayers?

'My voice rises to God. I will cry aloud. And He will hear me.' How intense can you be? He is crying out from his heart. He wants God to hear him. He says, God will hear me. When you put your heart into your prayers, you get the assurance that God has heard you.

What was his trouble? This is anguish at night. He 'stretched out his hand without weariness'. How soon we give up! We can't pray for long.

His soul refuses to be comforted. This is really anguish. He is praying earnestly, crying out to God, yet there is no comfort. He is touching the point of despair. Where is God's grace and mercy? Where is His loving-kindness and compassion? Is it to going to be only wrath and darkness?

Then he remembers God. He remembers, remembers. Do you remember the past? The great Red Sea experience in your life. Not just coming out of Egypt, but passing through the Red Sea. This is the experience of every true child of God. We have to pass through the Red Sea. That promise, the great promise of Exodus 14.13,14, has to be tested and proved in our lives. Not just once, but twice...and again and again, till we know that God is true, that God is faithful. And though we pass through the waters, He will be with us.

How was I saved? Was it by mere mental acceptance? No, it was the truth that went into my heart. I was saved by the sheer grace and mercy of God. And I experienced the power of His deliverance, even as the enemy pursued me as I left his kingdom. Our faith is a battle. The Christian life is a battle. There is spiritual reality and spiritual forces are working behind this life of circumstances. But, praise God, He fights our battles and we only have to hold our peace.

Eventhough God's ways are unsearchable - His footsteps are not known - we know that He cares for us, even as a shepherd cares for his sheep, even as He led us out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and through the Wilderness into the Promised Land.