I've been a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman for years. Love his music. His lyrics are so heartfelt and so faithful to God and not only what He's doing in SC-Squared's life, but in the lives of other believers as well.
One of my favorite songs is "Dive" from several years ago. My former youth group used it as our theme for our mission trip to Oregon one summer. The lyrics are:
The long awaited rains
Have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground
And carved their way to where
The wild and rushing river can be found
And like the rains
I have been carried here to where the river flows, yeah
My heart is racing and my knees are weak
As I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back
Once my feet have left the ledge
And in the rush, I hear a voice
That's telling me it's time to take the leap of faith
So here I go
Chorus:
I'm diving in, I'm going deep, in over my head I want to be
Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head I want to go
The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive
So sink or swim, I'm diving in
There is a supernatural power
In this mighty river's flow
It can bring the dead to life
And it can fill an empty soul
And give a heart the only thing
Worth living and worth dying for, yeah
But we will never know the awesome power
Of the grace of God
Until we let ourselves get swept away
Into this holy flood
So if you'll take my hand
We'll close our eyes and count to three
And take the leap of faith
Come on, let's go
I love the urgency in this song – long awaited rains…thirsty ground…it gives the clear image that this isn't something that "just happened"…it was anticipated. And even though it's obviously a much-anticipated event, even so, there's hesitation to jump in. I always wondered why.
Perhaps it is that because for those of us who have been Christians for a while, it becomes easy to think that we've done it all. We've been saved since we were kids, we did the missions trips, we read the Bible through about 100 times, we have taught Sunday School, sung in the choir, heard all the sermons and worship tunes…we've just lived it all. We've exhausted all there is to this Christian life. We get so bogged down in this that we forget to anticipate anything new.
It's kind of like we dip a teaspoon into the ocean, come back with a little bit, and say, "That's the ocean."
"No way. That's not all there is," you say. Of course not. There's so much more to the ocean; more than what we can see, touch, smell, taste and experience. But we know it's there. You can't put it into a teaspoon and call it a day.
But that's what we do with God. We dip a teaspoon into His relationship with us and say, "That's God." Then we pour that teaspoon into our hearts and lives and say that's all there is to being a believer.
But like the song says, you have to anticipate there's more. The ground has to be thirsty. We have to stand on the edge of the known, ready to take that leap of faith, even if we can't see where we're going. We have to be ready to dive in, sink or swim.
But here's the thing. This isn't really diving into the unknown. We have an example set before us. It's found in Matthew 14:22-33.
The story goes like this: Jesus had just fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. He was tired, and wanted to be alone and pray. So He sent the disciples on ahead in a boat while He dismissed the crowds. After they were gone, Jesus went off to pray. The disciples were out in the boat when a storm came up, about 4 a.m., and they were afraid. They saw Jesus walking toward them on the water.
Peter, ever the bold one, said, "If it's really you, call me to come to you." In other words, Peter called Him out, challenging Jesus. He believed that if it was really the Son of God, he would be able to walk on the water, too.
Jesus told Peter to come to Him, and Peter began to walk on the water. Can you imagine? That had to be awesome. But when Peter began to think with his head, and not his heart, he began to sink. He cried out to Jesus to save him.
Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed Peter, and said, "Faint heart, what got into you?" As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, HE WAS WALKING ON WATER.
The song says "we will never know the awesome power of the grace of God, until we let ourselves get swept away into this holy flood..." Hmmm...we'll never walk on water if we don't get out of the boat.
I also notice in the song lyrics that someone takes the jumper's hand before they "count to three" and take the leap of faith. That's key. We never have to jump alone. So...anticipate...focus on Jesus...jump...walk on water. Pretty simple formula but oh, so difficult to do. Because of teaspoon mentality.
Lord, help me get rid of my teaspoons and start dippin' with big ol' honkin' serving spoons...
