I recently went away with my college to Rydal, a beautiful part of the lake district. While we were there, we were encouraged by the leader of our sessions to find somewhere in nature that we could go and sit at various times over the next few days, and listen to God through His creation. Being the child, poorly disguised as an adult, which I am, I chose to climb a tree. My tree was wonderful, in a secluded part of the woods and overhanging a raging river which roared as it wound its way down the valley. As I was sat in my tree I noticed in the middle of the raging river, a boulder. In the middle of this boulder was an almost perfectly round deep bowl filled with water, but in stark contrast to the turbulent water all around it, this bowl was filled with glassy, almost perfectly still water. No water flowed into this bowl, yet water overflowed and smoothly poured out of it. As I looked down at this curiosity, wondering whether I should venture from the comfort of my tree to investigate, I heard a distinct splash in the water, and there in the river right next to the bowl I saw my room keys which must have fallen from my pocket!
My decision made for me, I descended from my tree and investigated this strange phenomenon. Indeed, I was right, there was no water flowing into the top of this bowl, so searching for answers I plunged my hands deep inside. I felt around until suddenly I found it! A hole deep inside, which allowed the water fill peacefully from within, undisturbed by the chaotic waters round, yet which were so abundant that they overflowed. I felt touched by such rich imagery of Gods power and presence. I won’t however explain what I saw when I looked at this, rather I will let you discern for yourself what you see.
This wasn’t the last thing that this tree and this river had to show me though. Just before our last meal together I went back to sit in the tree. After sitting a while, I went to my car to put my bags away before going to lunch, only to realise that my car keys were no longer in my pocket! There was surely only one explanation. So, I went to lunch as it was already being served and calmly explained the situation with much amusement to some of my friends. They were shocked that I seemed so calm about it all, suggesting that maybe I should be a little bit more worried about it and perhaps should be in a little more of a rush to look for them. I however was confident, this was not the first time God had helped my find something I had lost but which I was dependant on, and not only that, but I’d lived this entire experience less than 24 hours earlier, I knew exactly where to look!
So, after enjoying my meal and saying goodbye to my friends, I went to the river to retrieve my keys. Now, there was one difference between this time and the last, which I had originally overlooked. My room keys were attached to a bright green key fob, which floated, my car keys however, were not. None the less, I was undeterred and unconcerned. With confidence I lunged my hands into the white water and felt around at the bottom of the river giving thanks to God for what I knew He would do. Behold, five minutes later my hands rested on a suspiciously pointy rock, my car keys were found. As I victoriously walked back with my prize in my hand, it was not pride at such unwavering confidence that filled my heart. Rather I felt a question. Why was I so sure of God? Because He’d done similar things before, and because I’d been through this exact scenario before. One last question remained and sits with me still. God has led you through so many situations of uncertainty and difficulty and safely seen you through each one. So why do you still so often sacrifice your certainty for worry and concern?
Originally written for the July 2023 ABC Newsletter
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