When My Feet May Fail

Recently I've had the opportunity to go to the beach and, not to my suprise, it is just as beautiful in the winter as in the summer. The warm, white sand between my toes, the foamy waves slapping the shore, and the smell of salt in the air. There is something special about the beach, something different.

Standing at the edge of the water, staring out into the ocean. There is nowhere else that I can be facing one direction looking at the houses and all the people and then I can turn around and its all gone. Completely gone, nothing except for the unending waters and sky stretched before me. God's creation. I realize just how small I am and how big the world is. I am reminded of the song, Oceans (Where my feet may fail), from Hillsong United. It starts off with the words:

"You call me out upon the waters 

The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery 
in oceans deep
My faith will stand"

So much of my life is unknown. Whether or not I am following God I do not know what is coming in the next year, let alone the next hour. But when I choose to live for God I am saying that I will go wherever he sends me. This is so much easier said than done; sometimes I doubt God multiple times a day and I often feel unworthy and unable to do what he has asked me to.

"And I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters 

Your sovereign hand 

Will be my guide

Where my feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now"

But 2 Corinithians 12:9b reminds me, that "God's power is made perfect in MY weakness". Without my faith in God I will fail. But it is his power that allows me to carry forward. When I call on Him, when I keep my eyes on him, when I rest in Him-I can follow where he leads me. And this song does a really good job at summing up how I want to live and how God wants me to live. 

It is because of God's grace that I am here today. I fail; I am not enough. I would drown in a never ending ocean. But when God is carrying me, the unknown is no longer scary, but a place to grow closer to God. It is a place where I can more fully rely on him. 

So when I feel like I am drowning and my troubles begin to overtake me, I can close my eyes and picture the ocean before my with my world and troubles behind me. The words from Oceans flow through my head and I am reminded that God has called me out upon the sea. And he will not fail me. To me, standing out on the beach not only reminds me how big God is or how marvelous his creation is, but also that I am his and that in his grace I can call to him, rest in him, and follow him. 

"I will call upon Your name

Keep my eyes above the waves 

My soul will rest in Your embrace

I am Yours and you are mine"