06 October 2005 Devotion for Today “Tipping Drills” James 1:6-8
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6-8)
A week or so ago the sailing class of which I am a participant engaged in what we called “tipping drills.” In this exercise we learned what we should do if our boat ever capsized. This is important because a sudden gust from a northeast wind can destabilize the sailing craft immediately and throw it out of control. On a couple of occasions, some of the students accidentally got “tipped” into the water. Their error occurred because they were not prepared for the whimsical gusts that could blow over at any time and secondly because they did not balance their craft correctly. We have been learning how important it is for the helmsman and crew to sit on the windward side of the boat (the side on which the wind is blowing first).
Righting the sailboat is really just a matter of applied physics and balance. As soon as the boat over-heels and spills the passengers into the water, it is important to keep calm. In the exercise I swam to where the mast was down into the water just above the deck and stepped up onto it and scrambled over the gunwale- stepping onto the protruding centerboard. The centerboard, or keel, is that which stabilizes the boat located beneath the hull. Grabbing one of the jib lines I stepped further out onto the centerboard and as I did I felt the boat falling toward me back into the water. Soon I was in the water myself but the boat and the mast were both upright; ready for us to start sailing again. All that was left for me to do was to scramble back over the transom and into the cockpit- a much more difficult task than righting the boat to start with. Thus ended a very enjoyable lesson.
Reflecting upon the lesson caused me to realize not only how unstable sailing vessels can be but how much more so people can be if they are not properly balanced in their faith by the Word of God. This happens when people are either too overconfident in their abilities to sustain life or when they are not confident enough in God to sustain them. As I mentioned, most tipping accidents on the water occur when the passengers and crew are not balancing the sailboat like they should. Some of it is caused by sheer lack of confidence and fear of the water. When this happens the inexperienced helmsman is likely to be overcome by the fickle winds and waves and not respond quickly enough, causing the craft to destabilize instantly. On the other hand, there are some sailors who know just enough to be a danger to themselves and others. They think they know more than they do. They more confident they are in their abilities, the less they consider the effect of the gusts that can blow in without warning.
Sailing a boat is an almost perfect analogy where relying upon one’s faith in God and maintaining a watchful, human eye intersect to make one successful in nearly every experience of human life. I say almost perfect because none of us do anything perfectly, and there may be times where we’ve done everything human possible from preventing a bad experience and things can still go out of control. Still when this occurs we must have faith and not give into panic or doubt which will cause us to go down perhaps faster than if we allowed things to take their natural course- all the while trusting God to bear us up. A double-minded person is one who tries to have a firm hold on everything around him yet says he believes and trusts in God. When his life capsizes, however, he cannot understand why God has let him down. He fails to realize that because of his overconfident hold on life, he has shut out the very One who can help him in the likelihood of the failure that will blow his way. The ensuing panic he experiences makes the situation more even unstable than it would have been had he just trusted God.
The lesson? It might be good for you to experience a tipping drill in your life- to know how to be prepared for emergencies, but to let have God have control- not just when we see the storm on the horizon, but let Him have the helm at all times. Have a blessed day.
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