This past September I went to the Dominican Republic to visit my friend. My favorite day of the whole trip was the day we went to a secluded beach to swim in the ocean. We swam out pretty far from shore and just floated up and down with the waves.
However, these were not small waves and I kept finding myself coughing and spitting out salt water after getting smacked in the face. I got really tired of this really quickly but I just couldn’t seem to do anything about it.
Then I heard the Lord say quite clearly, “Stop fighting.”
“I’m not fighting I’m just trying not to drown,” I responded getting another mouthful of salt water.
“Stop fighting.”
That’s when I started watching the two local boys that were out there with us. They had lots of experience swimming out in the waves and I realized they just dove straight into them. I tried this and found that it was much easier than bracing myself or trying to fight them.
Soon I was tired and started swimming toward shore. If you’ve ever done this, you know that you swim and swim but never really get anywhere because the receding waves pull you right back out.
Again I heard the Lord’s voice, “Stop fighting.”
“I’m not! I’m just trying to get back to shore.”
My way clearly wasn’t working, so again I watched the local boys and learned that the only way to get back in was to swim hard with the incoming waves, but then you just relax and let the waves pull you back a little, repeating the process until you’re all the way in. It is slow going but you use way less energy when you let the waves do the work and don’t try to fight against them.
At last I was close enough to stand and I immediately tried to run out of the water before the next wave came to overtake me. I still hadn’t gotten it. I didn’t even get three steps toward shore before a giant wave picked me off my feet and slammed me into the ground.
“Stop fighting.”
“I didn’t even know I was!”
What I ended up having to do was let the water bring me all the way up on shore and I mean ALL THE WAY. The waves were so strong that to stand up even when it was little more than ankle deep you would be caught be the next wave before you could get out and you’d get a not so gentle landing on the rocky shore.
When it was all over, I realized the Lord was trying to get me to completely surrender and let Him do all the work. I really didn’t have to do anything except listen and respond to His voice.