I’ve never seen a day where parents indulge their kids so much. “Oh, little Johnny’s got practice, and little Suzie’s got dance lessons,” never giving any thought to the importance of “silence” in their lives. They’re living their lives through their kids without any infrastructure on which to build a foundation on. It’s all about living for the moment.
Married couples are taking on more work responsibilities to pay for their new toys and bigger homes. They live on the theme “play now and pay later.” This value system fragments the family into complete chaos. I know of one couple who had overextended themselves on the purchase of a new home. They didn’t mind having to take on additional work to cover their financial stress, but this meant they rarely saw one another. One day the husband came home from work and realized his wife was missing. In reality, she had been missing for four days, and he didn’t even know it! She had been in a terrible car accident down a steep ravine and trapped in her car for four days. This behavior has become the acceptable lifestyle for 93% of the church. This lifestyle says to God, “Yes, you may be out there somewhere, but I am way too busy taking care of me.” I have seen people in our own church overextend themselves on frivolous purchases. They are living the life of luxury on credit until the credit is all gone. The creditors are pounding on their door wanting blood. Now, out of panic, they play the “God will understand” card and stop tithing. They need God’s money to pay for their foolish living. They make God’s church suffer and sacrifice so they won’t have to. They have taken frivolous wants and turned them into financial needs that God was never a part of. This is the presumption of God’s mercy upon a selfish heart. Paul, the apostle, wrote in 2 Timothy 3:2 that in the last days, men shall be lovers of themselves. Paul is telling us that people are going see that their needs are met first prior to looking to anyone else’s needs. Unfortunately, the “me first” doctrine has permeated the church. A gentleman shared with me that he chose to buy a really nice house for his family instead of tithing to his church. He said, “God understands.” I thought to myself, “Yes, God does understand. He understands that you don’t love Him first. He understands that you don’t want to serve Him first. He understands that you have chosen to build your house on the sand of humanistic reasoning.” Proverbs 16:25(English Standard Version) tells us “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” I have met so many people who are absolutely convinced they are right in their sin and disobedience. They take their humanistic knowledge and wisdom and pit it against the wisdom of the ages. They stand in arrogance and pride convincing their selves God is wrong and they are right.
1 Timothy 6:4-5(Contemporary English Version) says, “Those people who disagree are proud of themselves, but they don't really know a thing. Their minds are sick, and they like to argue over Words. They cause jealousy, disagreements, unkind Words, evil suspicions and nasty quarrels. They have wicked minds and have missed out on the truth.”
As a Christian, we have an obligation to align our life with God’s truth which gives us an eternal perspective. We choose to live not for the now, but for what is going to last for eternity. This is in direct opposition to Church culture that is being driven by society’s patterns and not God’s patterns. If 93% of the Church sees no direct benefit in knowing God they are being driven by the moment. If they are being driven by the moment they will make knee jerk reactions and shallow decisions, leading to a foundation built on things that are temporary; a foundation that will not last in the light of eternity.
1 Corinthians 3:11-13(King James Version) says, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.”
Chapter Three: Everyone Needs a Slack Tide
“What better way for Satan to steal, kill and destroy people than to get them to believe they have no enemy.”
If we are to build on the sure foundation we can only do so if our priorities align with God’s Word. The way to do this is to consistently put the Word of God into our hearts. So how often are people putting God’s Word into their hearts?
George Barna Research reports that only one out of 10 claims to study the Bible every week. By this statistic, we can understand how the Devil is making an impact on the Church. No wonder there is such spiritual illiteracy in the church. Yes, I said the Devil. It is staggering to think that nearly one half of all Christians reject the existence of a literal Devil. They tend to think of the Devil as a symbol of evil more than a literal spiritual being. Jesus said in John 10:10(King James Version), “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…”
What better way for Satan to steal, kill and destroy people than to get them to believe they have no enemy. This is why God is calling us to have more silence in our lives, so we can truly know that He is God.This is why God is calling us to “Be still and know that I am God.” “Still” in Hebrew literally means: slack tide; that which has a pause, not active or busy. When I think of slack tide, I am reminded of the power of the ocean. It is an amazing creation from God, and I have such a respect for it. I used to be a commercial diver many years ago and still scuba dive on a regular basis. I recently went to the San Juan Islands in Washington State to spear fish for Lingcod. If you know anything about scuba diving in the San Juan Islands, you understand the importance of studying the tide charts. Much of the Puget Sound waters flow through the San Juan Islands causing massive tidal changes and heavy currents. If you dive there you want to be sure you dive during slack tide.
When I was diving commercially in the San Juan Islands, we didn’t have the luxury of only diving during slack tides. Many times we would have to go into the water no matter what the current or tide exchange was like. We would put on extra weight, sometimes up to 140 pounds to compensate for a four or five knot current. We needed that much weight to get our footing so we could work. Even still, with some of those currents, we would be completely incapacitated and would have to come up. Some of the divers never made it back.
There are many people who don’t have any “slack tide” in their life. They don’t have the time or see the benefit. They are just too busy to stop and think about it. They are too wrapped up thinking about their ulcer or fighting insomnia because they can’t shut off the stress in their life. They lie in bed at night with their spouse dreaming of ways to get them out of their life. They take their home problems to work with them and take their work problems home with them. They are always on edge, always stressed-out, always late and always have somewhere else to be and something else to do. They are driven by the currents of society and feel like victims being swept away by the cultural surge. They are caught up in the currents of life, and just to keep their feet on the ground they have to add on more weight—more financial commitments, luxuries, fun, worldliness and fleshly passions. They become incapacitated under the currents of their life and the Devil draws them down deeper and deeper until they are out of control.
This is why it is so vital that we as Christians have “slack tides” in our lives. We have to have moments of silence to hear our Heavenly Father. This is the only way we can really know God. We have to realize that God did not design us to go without moments of silence. If we live without them, we live with stress, fear, poverty, lack; we put up with sickness and disease and go without sleep. We push ourselves to the brink of collapse. Jesus said in Matthew 11:30(New International Reader's Version) 30 “Serving me is easy, and my load is light.” He is trying to convey to us that His plan gives us life. His way is to slow down and take moments of silence to gain insight and wisdom from God. God says in Proverbs 13:15(New King James Version) 15 “Good understanding gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard.” “Hard” can be translated rough or to strain. This is like swimming upstream in a heavy current. I know what tough means. Tough is wearing 140 pounds of lead trying to work in a five or six knot current with a 300 foot air supply line. It is almost impossible to navigate
