Not a Rowboat But a Battleship

Lately, I have been thinking more and more about boldness. It feels like lines are being drawn between me and family and friends who aren’t Christians. If it were as simple as me being a believer and them being unsaved, that would be easy. In middle school, it was that easy. I went to church on Sundays and Bible camps during the summers. Most of my friends were church friends. I viewed my world as people either being Christians or not. 

As I got older, I started to see the world as less black and white and more grey. I wanted to be a light for Christ, but I began to see how much darkness there was all around me. I started to feel overwhelmed and made small compromises in my actions that ultimately led to me walking away from God and the church for over a decade.

When I came back to God, I still struggled with sins and thought life, but I developed a genuine and earnest love for God and the Bible. Suddenly, things were easier. I surrounded myself with other believers and had the boldness to talk to my co-workers about my love for God and what he was doing for me.

Yet, over the years, my boldness slowly diminished. I was no longer in my Christian bubble. Instead, there were family and friends who weren’t Christian, and many of them were resistant to and even angry with God and his church. Instead of having confidence in God and my beliefs, I started being more quiet about them, not wanting to ostracise anyone. I wanted, and still do, to maintain good relationships with them. 

I justified my neutrality by thinking that if I wasn’t always talking about God and instead occasionally mentioned my walk with God or posted a Bible verse, they would see that and read it. I would have done my duty to Christ by showing minimal devotion to him.

But God. I love those two words. When I have used those words in my life, it has always been because God was showing me who he is and what he was calling me to do. For example, I may be depressed, but God has shown me that there is still joy in him as he calls me to live a productive life despite my feelings.

I am now hearing those two amazing words again from him, which require me to love him, adhere to His Word, and live my life according to his will for my life and the lives of others. It is not always easy, but that is where I am right now. 

I mentioned the dividing line at the beginning of this post, and while that line may have been thin in the past, it is becoming a gaping, deep, wide, and jarring line. We live in a time of confusion, spiritually, politically, socially, and economically, and in every other aspect of life.

As I was chatting with a friend today on Messenger, I realized how I felt in the midst of all this turmoil and confusion. I feel like my husband and I are in a row boat in the middle of the vast ocean, alone and overwhelmed by the waves of our culture. Yet, as I was chatting with her, it dawned on me that we, as believers, are not alone in small rowboats. Instead, we are in a mighty battleship that is our Lord!

Numerous passages of scripture tell us that God has the strength and power we need to live our lives boldly, fully, and abundantly.

Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

God is also described as a rock and fortress in 2 Samuel 22:2, Psalm 91:2, Psalm 144:2, and Nahum 1:7.

In Exodus 14:14 and Deuteronomy 20:4, scripture tells us that God fights for us.

When the Bible was written, there were obviously no battleships, but God was clearly seen as a protector, a shield, a stronghold, a rock, and a fortress. These passages of scripture tell me that I can depend on God since he is a place of refuge, strength, and safety.

I may see my world as divided, but God is a bridge. I may feel overwhelmed, but he is good, strong, and able. I may feel like a rowboat, but God, well, he is a battleship!