Water Rescue
I remember how extraordinary it was as a young boy to see the ocean for the first time. It was not the time of the year for me to get into the water, but my Uncle Paul, who lived in San Diego wanted me to see it. It will be no surprise that I was astounded by its vast size, going far beyond what we could see. The power of the waves was fearsome. I just stared at the massive undulating sight.
It was not until a few years later that I played and waded in the surf, this time at a beach in Western Mexico, along the shores of the Gulf of California. It had the Spanish name, Puerto Peñasco, but we just called the place “Rocky Point”. The waves were calmer, protected by the long peninsula, Baja California, but they still had some force to them. This was the first time I felt what it was like to be knocked off my feet by a wave. I found myself rolled and jostled about forcefully by the churning, sandy, saltwater. Coming up from such a surprising tumble was a relief. However much the salt burned my nose, however much water I swallowed, I was just glad to be back on my two feet, and knowing which way was up.
The psalmist uses mighty water imagery at times to depict the way that other forces in life take us down, roll us around, and threaten to rob us of life altogether. Our psalm for this Sunday, in our celebration of Recovery, is that kind of poetry. We are using only two sections of this very long Psalm. Take your time reading through our portion and notice how it begins describing God as a fortress of security. Notice how verses four through six portrays frightening circumstances which threaten the life of this soul. In the last four verses we see God as Rescuer and Deliverer:
Psalm 18:2-6; 16-19
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,*
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;*
so I shall be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;*
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;*
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.*
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
16 He reached down from on high, he took me;*
he drew me out of mighty waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,*
and from those who hated me;
for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity;*
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;*
he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
The pattern in this reading is promise, problem, and solution. God is present and powerful from the beginning. Let’s face it, however, we meet things in life that are so much bigger than we are, it requires us to reach out to the One with the power to save. We may try helping ourselves, that’s natural, but some things are overwhelming. The twelve-step wisdom cultivated originally in AA uses the phrase, “hitting bottom”. This is broadly applied to the very painful part of the down-spiraling cycle of addiction when the person is deeply more ready to accept help in recovery. One of the thoughts coming out of AA is that a person does not seek change, truly, until convinced that not changing will bring more pain than changing.
Look again at verses 6 and 16. “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters”. Hitting the bottom is a subjective thing. Some seek help sooner; some reach new lows beyond what looked like the bottom. Chemical dependency is such a powerful disease, and so progressive, that it feels like the cords of Sheol and the snares of death have you entangled. It is just true, this is not a dramatic embellishment, unchecked by a program of recovery, the outcome of deepening addiction is incarceration, insanity, or premature death.
Every family is touched in one way or another by the problem of addiction. It affects the person caught in it as well as those living with the addict. It also affects friends, co-workers, and all the people in the circles of relationships. Many times it is a chemical addiction, that is, alcohol or other drugs. Sometimes it is something called “process addiction”. In these cases, the person can be addicted to the internet, shopping, gambling, sex, exercise, work, or food. That is a list of common addictions, but other things might launch the destructive cycle.
Come and hear the presenter at either of the 9:00 or 11:00 morning services at St. Francis this Recovery Sunday, September 19. Vincent Fizer of the Houston Hope and Healing Center will be sharing. To have such an emphasis in our worship life is a beautiful thing we are doing for each other. We worship a God who gives us the promise of security in divine Love. God is also the one who comes to our aid as Deliverer. God is that Power beyond the power we have. To manage merely with our power is to discover our helplessness against the most serious distress taking hold of us. Let us let go of our delusions of self-sufficiency and let God take hold of us instead.