Rowing Against the Current

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I remember one day in High School my Outdoor Pursuits class went on a sea kayaking trip to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.  There was a small island just off shore.  We were to kayak all the way around it and then come back into shore, sounds easy enough.  Of course it was my first time kayaking, but I picked it up right away.  Our way out on the right side of the island was easy, there was no wind and the current was in our favor.  We stopped and had lunch before making our way back to shore on the other side.  Unfortunately the wind had picked up and we were now fighting it and the current.  I remember paddling and paddling and it seemed like I was getting nowhere.  The waves were getting larger and as time went on it got harder and harder.  I felt as if my arms were going to fall off.  I stopped paddling for only a few seconds to give my arms a rest but in those few seconds I lost all the ground (or water) it had taken me 5 minutes to accomplish.  I knew that in order to make it back to shore I wasn’t going to be able to do that to much.  So I just kept on going with only the sheer will to make it back to shore to drive me, for my body had already given up, so I pushed and pushed despite the pain.  I was in no immediate danger for I could have paddled for the island like some people in my class had done, then the experienced instructor would come out to get them.  If I had given up and started drifting out to sea I would have been picked up, but I think at that time I had something to prove and now it serves as a pretty good parallel.  Yes I made it and I felt pretty good about it too.

“This truth of understanding the pull of sin is very much like the experience of one who is rowing a canoe. As long as he is going with the current, he has no idea how strong the current really is. Only when he turns his canoe around and start rowing against the current does he experience its true strength.
A believer who has been giving in to the pull of his sinful heart never learns the extent of its power over him. When he decides to row upstream, [against the common flow of life here] he meets the strength and realization of sin. It is then he sees how much he needs the Lord’s strength.” – Dr Jim Berg in Changed Into His Image – Recognizing the Evil Within.

I have often found that after “rowing against the current” for a period I grow weary, desiring a respite from the pressures of living for God.  Giving into the temptation of selfishness I begin to loose ground and before I know it I have lost fellowship with God and hurt loved ones and destroyed my testimony with friends or coworkers.  At this point turning around and “rowing against the current” is harder than it was before because I have developed some sinful habits.  The problem is often that I stop allowing God to control and take matters into my own hands, left up to ourselves we will always fail.  God never intended for us to row alone.  When walking with God he supplies all our needs and strengthens us to accomplish his will.  We just need to allow him to work in us and give him control.

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” – 2 Corinthians 9:8

Remember God, rely on God, walk with God.  Keep on rowing, keep on running, keep the faith.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” – 2 Timothy 4:7-8

References:

All scripture is taken from biblegateway.com -ESV.

Dr. Jim Berg quote taken from Changed Into His Image – Recognizing the Evil Within.