The Overwhelming Sea

I have seen the sun lie low upon the sea,

All the swelling waters, hammered molten gold.

I have seen God’s fiery light on surging waters bold

Crashing on the rocks that hem the sundering sea.

I have ridden the waves of the roiling sea

When the night was stormy dark, the waters bitter cold.

Up I rose to heaven as the mighty waters rolled

And plunged to the depths of the overwhelming sea.

Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterspouts,

All you breakers and waves have rolled over me.

My sails are stripped away, I am laid bare for You to see.

The angels danced over me with loud cries and shouts.

    At last in sweet surrender I am at perfect peace.

    As I rest quietly in You, all my strivings cease.

There is a danger swimming in the overwhelming sea.  The danger is the desire to struggle on gasping for air as the waves and billows crash against you.  Surrender is a gift that can, and often is, refused, and so, Judas went and hung himself kicking at the end of the rope until the very end.

Surrender once accepted is a tremendous relief.  The truth is that the first complete surrender is the worst to endure, so many fears, a dread of abject helplessness; but once received, what peace, what joy, and as one finally catches one’s breath, what jubilation.  Who could ever have thought that sweet surrender could be so grand!

All subsequent surrenders harken back to the first surrender, and surrender becomes a delight and not a dread. Of course there are moments of stupid, even sluggish, resistance.  But the memory and the joy of surrender calls you back to the beginning and you find that surrender itself is a foundation stone that lies upon the Bedrock who is Christ Jesus.