The River of Life

This past week I went white-water rafting.
I found the movements of the water to be very fascinating and spent a good part of the time on the river watching the different currents.
It was very interesting to see how the water moved in many different directions, the main current always moving downstream, but often there were other currents that reversed direction and fought against the movement of the river.

Often we would come upon a place in the river where the water was still and mirror –like. I’ve always loved watching ripples and I found it amusing to use my paddle to create ripples on the water’s smooth surface.
But the quiet times would only last so long and soon a raging rapid would be in front of us and the fun time of making ripples would be gone and I’d have to use my paddle to actually paddle!

As my raft went along the river and I watched the waters move around us it struck me that life often resembles the currents of the river.
As we travel down the river of life there are many currents. The main current pulls us safely through life. But there are many other currents that pull at us, drawing us away from the main current and pushing us around in different directions. Without a Guide in your raft it’s easy to be caught in a contradictory current and pulled away from the path of the river, which almost always leads to danger. Without a Guide it’s easy to be pulled towards rocks and other hazards of the river.

I noticed that the contradictory movements of the river are like sin in our lives. It’s a battle where we’re caught between the pull of sin and the pull of righteousness. God wants to lead us in righteousness - safely down the river, but sin wants to pull us into destruction. Often in life we are torn between these two pulls, because sin is pleasurable, if only for a season, it still is very attractive and desirable for that reason.

You generally can’t see the hazards of the river before you reach them. Often the waters look smooth and safe and it’s not until the danger is upon you that you can clearly see it, and by then, it’s too late. You’re sucked it and you’re struggling to break free. It's the same with sin.

But if you have a Guide in your boat, who knows the river and is aware of the dangers before they arrive, He can lead you away from them and keep you in the safe current.

But here in lies another problem, while I was rafting I sat in the front/left seat. This seat is important, because all the other people in the raft take their cues from this person. Everyone in the raft is supposed to watch and copy this person’s strokes so that everyone stays together and that the raft will travel strong and smoothly. If this person isn’t paying attention it could throw the whole raft off.
The problem comes in because this person is in the front and the Guide, who is yelling directions, is in the back.

Now, while the raft is in smooth water it often simply floats. It’s quiet and it’s easy to hear the Guide from the front of the boat.
It’s also easy to stop paying attention and just let your mind drift, like when I use my paddle to make ripples, stirring up the water just for the sake of having fun, until suddenly you’re caught unaware and unprepared and the raft is heading towards a rapids. Unexpectedly, the quietness is replaced with the roaring sounds of water splashing and smashing against itself and the raft and you can't hear the Guide.
You’re surrounded by movement and noise. You have no idea what to do. You can’t hear the Guide shouting directions from the back of the raft, there are too many distractions and without proper directions from the Guide you could easily lead the entire raft into destruction.

The currents and waves are pulling at you and now, it’s not good enough to simply listen, now, you have to listen intently and actively in order to hear.
You have to push past all the distractions and seek out the voice coming from the back. You have to be still and listen. And then, when that voice is finally heard you have to follow. You have to make your hands take the paddle and do exactly what the guide says, even if it seems crazy.

Now, that right there seems like life to me.
When times are good, we become comfortable, distracted and sometimes even bored enough to stir up trouble and we stop listening to our Guide - God, but then suddenly, seemingly out-of-the-blue, life gets complicated. It gets noisy and hard and confusing. We don’t know what to do. We can’t hear, because the sin that we’ve been disregarding is now bombarding us, it’s blocking out God’s voice. In these moments we can’t hear God, because we are too caught up listening to the sin that is pulling us away from God. In these moments, often the only way to hear God is by doing what it says in Psalms 37 “Be still and know that I am God”.
When sin is overwhelming us and about to overcome us, we must stop listening to the waves of sin and distractions, be still and listen ONLY for God’s voice.

Just like the raft guide knows the next turn of the river before we get there and how to maneuver it, God knows the next turn of your life before you get there and He knows how to get you through it.
So, when we’re traveling through life, the hard times and the easy times:
We must always listen intently for God’s voice, because you can only hear it in Stillness,
And you must pick up your paddle and obey His directions and let Him guide you through the right current.