Wave Effect

Consider this:

66 years ago when I was born 246 years ago when the Revolutionary War was won 530 years ago when Columbus set foot in the Americas 1,646 years ago when the Roman empire fell 1,989 years ago when Christ proclaimed, “It is finished.” 3,802 years ago when Abraham held Isaac, his newborn son

The waves of Lake Michigan faithfully spanned the shore.

Through the ages, waves surged the shore at the place I sat, the place we now call St. Joseph, Michigan. The waves’ timelessness and energy contrasted with my stillness, my fatigue as I sat on the sandy beach.

How often in the past months have I felt tired? Sometimes it was physical weariness, but more often it was mental and emotional.

I watch the waves. They greet the shore, one after another. Their forcefulness. Their unquenchable eagerness. Their energy. That is what I need. A vitality and strength not dependent on me or what I don’t need to create or sustain, I thought.

Most lakes don’t have waves because the lakes are so small. But the Great Lakes, of which Lake Michigan is part, do have waves because of their massive size. But what creates the waves on Lake Michigan? According to a website about the Great Lakes, it is the action of wind blowing across the surface of the water and changes in atmospheric pressure.

In Galatians 6:9, we are encouraged to not be weary in doing good. But where do we get the energy to not become weary? The previous verse may give us a clue. Verse eight says:

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

If we invest in the spiritual – in the eternal – instead of our flesh and temporal things, this verse indicates we will have life, which is where energy is.

Focusing on Scripture is the way I have found most helpful to look to the eternal instead of the temporal. The more time my thoughts are pointed toward God’s Word and who God is and His Majesty, the more the ‘winds’ of the Spirit can energize my soul.

On the days when I spend only a few minutes reading or studying the Bible in the morning and then neglect to focus on any verses throughout the day, I am making myself like a small inland lake, incapable of waves full of energy. But the days I choose a portion of Scripture to think about during the day, I am expanding my shores into a larger lake, one capable of waves and their energy.

On my own, my strength and energy are limited. I don’t have a strong personality or strength of body to fuel my soul. Even if I did, at some point, those strengths would give way. I choose instead to lean on God revealed in His Word—the Word forever established in heaven.

To learn more about my method of focusing on Scripture, you can read my book, Soul Pursuit: The Busy Person’s Guide to Biblical Meditation. Read the first chapter at my website.

Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Psalm 119:89