You Know In Your Head But It Still Doesn’t Make Sense
Recently, having dinner one day while on a cruise ship, I heard conversation going on at a nearby table.
“I don’t understand how this boat can float. I just can’t wrap my head around it. I get the physics behind it and everything. I know how it all works. But I just can’t picture it. This ship weighs 70,000 tonnes.”
I heard what she was saying, and I could understand the feeling. I know how it works, too. The boat sinks into the water to the point where the amount of water it pushes out of the way is the same weight of water as the weight of the ship. So simple in theory, but so hard to relate to.
The next day, we were out on the deck of the ship, watching a young man doing an ice sculpture. As he was setting his block of ice up onto its end so he could carve his art into that block of ice, they mentioned that the block of ice weighed 300 pounds.
And that is when it hit me. Our problem is not that we misunderstand the weight of the ship. Our problem is really a different altogether:
We Underestimate The Weight Of The Water
The water is just “there.” It’s ready to handle any boat that is loaded into it. No matter the size of the ship, the water is more than adequate for the task – it is steady, constant, all the way from the surface to the bottom of the ocean.
God’s Love Is Like The Ship That Won’t Sink
God’s love is like that. His goodness and His ability to keep you are like that. No matter the size or the weight of the burden, God’s grace is greater. His love and His faithfulness are more. Always constant, never changing.
There are many times in life where this world will throw us challenges and load us down with difficulties and burdens. And in those times, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the size of the problem. What we need to do is to get our eyes on the answer to the problem. No matter the weight of the problem or the size of the burden, we need instead to focus on the greatness and the faithfulness of God to carry us through the problem.