What to do When Waves Come Crashing In

   In the summer my family and I went to the beach for the first time in 8 years (other than when I went to Puerto Rico on a mission trip this past March, but I don’t count that because it wasn’t with my family). My sister was in the water. She was having problems because she kept falling when the waves crashed into her.

   When I realized she was having problems I told her she needs to know when to stand her ground and when to jump over the wave. If the wave is fast and high, she needs to jump. But, if the wave was smaller and slower she needs to stand her ground.

   My sister just could not tell which wave she needed to jump over and which one she needed to stand her ground. Many times she would fall because she jumped too high when she should not have jumped. Or, she would fall because she would stand her ground on a fast wave; and the wave would move the sand under her feet, so she would fall.

   I am telling you this story because it relates to life. We will inevitably all have trials and get tested. But, during those trials we need to know when to stand our ground and when to jump/move. If we choose to stand our ground it may be difficult because the sand moves beneath our feet. It would be really easy for us to jump and not stand our ground, but should we?

   In order to know when we should stand our ground and when we should move when trials come we need to know the Word (Bible). Everything we do needs to be based off the word. If what we are doing/saying goes against the word then we will fall. But if we know that someone is doing something against the word they will fall and we may fall too.

   To clarify let me give you an example: If I am at my job and my boss tells me that I need to lie about how much inventory we have in the store what should I do? I know that if I do not listen to my boss I may lose my job. But, if I lie then I am sinning. So, should I jump the wave and lie. Or, should I stand my ground and tell my boss that I cannot lie even though the wave that hits me may be big and knock me over.

   Finally, there is one option I did not mention in my little example. At the end of the day at the beach my sister got tired of getting knocked over so she left the waves. We do have one other option other than jumping and standing our ground. We can move. We can choose to leave the situation. But, we need to ask ourselves is that what God would want us to do?

   Especially in today’s society we need to be grounded in the Word (Bible). We need to know why we believe what we believe. We need to know when we should stand our ground. And, we need to know when we should leave the situation. In order to know what we should do, we need to have a relationship with God. It is only through his guidance that we will be able to endure the waves of life.

   So, have you ever jumped or sinned when you knew you should not have? Do you know the Bible well enough to know when to stand your ground? And, do you have a good enough relationship with God to know what he is guiding you to do?

   John 16:13, Galatians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 16:13, James 4:17