Paddle thru the Rapids
“So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.” 1 Peter 1:6 NLT
Intro: We all have opportunities to get upset. We have temptations that we are faced with. We have stresses that come to us in life. There are storms that happen in everyone’s life. No matter how good of a person you are you are going to have these kinds of struggles. You are going to have these tests and trials. You cannot pray the difficulties away. Sometimes we try to use our faith to control the circumstances but instead it is better to use your faith to control yourself when you are in a difficult time. I have learned that if I can just stay calm. If I can just stay steady in the middle of a problem. If I can stay the course. I have learned that if I can just stay committed to going forward that is what allows God to change the things around me.
When Robinson Crusoe was ship wrecked on a deserted island, he made what he called a list. One of the evil things on the island. The other of the good things. On the evil side he was a castaway all alone. On the good side he was alive. On the evil side he was far from all humankind and far from all human society, but on the good side he was not starving. He had no change of clothes, but one the good side he was in a warm tropical area where he didn't need clothes. On the evil side he was without defense, but on the good side he had not ran into any animals like he had seen on the coast of Africa. On the evil side there was no one to speak to, but the good side the tide had brought his sunken ship close enough to the shore he could get things he needed. So he concluded that he was in one of the most miserable situations he could possibly be in but there were still positive things for him to find. What about you? Do you see the things in life to be thankful for?
The Apostle Peter wrote these words to encourage people who were going through difficult times. “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.” 1 Peter 1:6 NLT Maybe you are dealing with an illness in your family. Maybe you are struggling financially. Maybe you are going through a difficult time emotionally or even going through a hard time spiritually. Maybe you are just not sure of anything good in your life. Whatever you're dealing with know that the scripture has promised “There is wonderful joy ahead.”
Today we are going to talk about “Paddling thru the Rapids.” This past week I went whitewater rafting with our church teens. I had never been whitewater rafting before. It looked like fun but it also looked like there was a lot of danger. The guide instructed us: “When I say paddle, you should paddle. If you do not paddle you could be propelled out of the boat. If you fall out of the boat and I say swim to the left you should swim to the left. If you do not swim to the left you could become trapped under a rock and die.” I was very fortunate to be on the boat with one of our teens Katelyn. Katelyn is a life guard. I told her if I fall out of the boat and I am in trouble, “Please be a hero, jump in and save me.”
We live in a very troubled. We live in an unbelieving world of struggles and temptations. It is when you join others at church that you are surrounded by a living hope in Jesus Christ. We look forward to encouragement, support, and when necessary even the rescue from someone around us. That is the living hope found in Jesus Christ who rose from the dead and is alive and also the living hope found in being part of a loving church, among the people of God.
“If you HAVE troubles, I want you to come and talk to me about them.
If you DON’T any troubles, come tell me how you do it!”
There are a few comparisons that I want to make today that are true to life about whitewater rafting. First you can’t ignore the rapids. Once you are out there on the boat there is no turning back. You have to paddle thru. There are different levels and classifications of rapids. LEVEL 1 and 2 are moving water with just a few little white ripples. It is relaxing. It is like a lazy river. You are just floating along. They allowed us to get out of the boat and swim down thru those rapids. LEVEL 3. Things began to changes. Narrow passages that send the boat tossing from side to side. Waves of water gushing in over the sides of the boat. Plenty of excitement. LEVEL 4. Rapids are more difficult rapids, they last longer, turbulent water that requires coordinated paddling and sends the heart racing. LEVEL 5 Large, long, more complex, gushing rapids, twisting, turning, spinning in every direction to deliver the adrenaline rush.
So the guide would give us instructions. If you fall out of the boat. Swim to the left. You should swim to the left to avoid the large rocks. Or on downstream he would say, This time if you fall out of the boat. Swim to the right. You should swim to the right to avoid the strong undercurrent that can drag you down underneath the water. Then the guide would give us instructions to paddle. When he says left two. Those on the left side of the boat were to give two strokes. When he says all paddle, everyone is to paddle as hard as you can until he says stop.
Then he would say ahead is a LEVEL 5 rapid. There is that moment when you are in the boat when the water is gushing in the front and the water is gushing in both sides. You saw in the pictures. There were times when water surrounded us with walls of water literally several feet above your head. And the guide would say all paddle. You realize that if you do not paddle the boat would spin around or it could be tossed and could even capsize. The same thing is true in life. You cannot just ignore the things around you and just hope they go away.
You can’t ignore temptations. You got to pray about it and deal with it with the help of God and your friends. You can’t ignore a struggle. You got to pray about it and trust God and friends to help you thru that difficult time. You cannot ignore a pain or a hurt. Ignoring our troubles is what is sometimes called the Clint Eastwood approach to pain. It's the macho approach. I'm a tough guy. Grin and bear it. Give me a bullet to chew on. I'm just going to ignore it. Out of sight, out of mind. If I just ignore it long enough, maybe it will go away. But that is just not true. Psalm 32:3 "There was a time when I refused to confess my sin it made me weak and miserable and I groaned all day long with frustration."
Ask yourself this question: What am I pretending not to know? What struggle and I ignoring in my life? What hurt am I simply not giving attention to? Why do we pretend? Because we think, “If I can just ignore it…, maybe it will go away.” Yet Psalm 32 says, “When I don’t admit my hurt, when I don't admit where I've blown it, when I don't admit my sin, all that does is it makes me miserable and it makes me frustrated.” You need to talk to someone.
How do you know when you're trying to ignore a problem? You refuse to talk to anyone about it. You procrastinate about it. "One of these days... I'm going to go to the dentist." One of these days " One of these days I'm going to have a doctor look at this." "One of these days I'm going to get some financial advice counseling." "One of these days I'm going to talk to the pastor about my problem." We always procrastinate when it is painful. It's a fact of life. It is human nature. BUT it is also going against what God has instructed us to do. Why do we keep postponing?
Notice what happens the bible says it makes me miserable. It makes us frustrated because when I deny a hurt I never get the healing, it just makes it worse. When we ignore a problem or a pain, it turns a minor problem into major problem. When you talk to someone about your problem and ask for God’s help. You are proving to God that you trust God to help you. By your action you are “Paddling Thru the Rapids.” “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.” 1 Peter 1:6 NLT Don’t run from it. I've learned this lesson in life. I don't run from it anymore. I have tried running from problems. It just doesn’t work. Psalm 55:6-8 "I wish I had wings like a dove, I'd fly away and find some rest. I'd flee to some refuge from all this storm." How many times have you felt like that? Oh, if I just had wings I would fly away. I am facing this difficulty and I would just run away from it. It is human nature to try to run from difficulty. It's a fact of life.
Do you know that by law, all doors in public buildings swing out? When people panic, they run. They escape. You can’t avoid the rapids. You just have to learn to paddle thru them. Have you noticed how we hate to admit it when we have deep feelings? “You're angry." No, I'm not!" Yes, you are."No, I'm not!"We don't like to admit when we hurt, so we often try to just avoid talking about it or hide our hurt, we wear a mask. It is game called: "Honey is something wrong?" “Is something wrong?" “No, no, nothing's wrong." "I can tell something's wrong." “No, everything is just hunky-dory" "I can tell something's wrong!"
You see it doesn’t take a lot to get us ticked off. You've got so much hurt in your life, right now you are fed up to the brim any slight bump will cause us to jiggle -- you spill out all over! And you come apart. Why don’t you just talk about it? Why don’t you share it? If you don't show it outwardly, you do it inwardly. You are not helping yourself get through a problem by taking off or hiding or avoiding your hurts.
There is story about two men talking. The first man says, "I don't worry about my problems. I don’t even think about them anymore." Second man says, "You're kidding? In this crazy world? How can you not worry?" First man: "I hired a professional worrier. He does all my worrying for me. I pay him to worry about my problem so, I don't worry about anything." Second man: "That's incredible! How much does he cost?" First: "A hundred thousand dollars a year." Second man: "Where are you going to get that kind of money?" First: "I don’t worry about it. It is not my problem!"
Have you noticed that when you worry about something it increases the size of the problem? If somebody criticizes you the more and you rehearse that in your mind. Some has said something about you and that is harmful to you and you begin to dwell on that the bigger and bigger that gets. Pretty soon, you begin to think the whole world is against you. You've got two options: rehearse it or release it. The more you rehearse a problem, the more you repeat it in your head. The more you remember it the bigger and bigger it gets in your life. Psalm 73:21-22 "When my thoughts were bitter and my feelings were hurt, I did not understand you." That is one of the things that can happen in almost any relationship. It can happen in any relationship. It can happen in your marriage. It can happen between children. It can even happen in the church.
Whenever there is hurt and bitterness that is buried it can often result in our misunderstanding one another. I don't understand you because I have been hurt by you. I don’t understand you because I am bitter. My feelings are hurt. I don’t understand what you are saying. I don't understand even understand why God is allowing this to happen to me. And soon you begin to resent everything and everyone around you.
There is one thing more harmful than your hurt. Regardless of why you are hurting, there's one thing more harmful than that hurt. That is to become resentful about that hurt. Resentment is much, much worse than anything you'll ever hurt over. If you become resentful, it just becomes a poison that prolongs the hurt. If completely clouds the issues and keeps you from having joy. “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.” 1 Peter 1:6 NLT
The past cannot hurt you any longer. The past can't hurt you! Unless you let allow it to hurt you. The past can only hurt you as long as you dwell in the past. As long as you keep looking back behind you. As long as you keep digging up the things people have said to you or done to you. You are still just letting them control you.
Resentment will never change what's happened. It will never let you get over it. It happened! It's over. It's gone. It's finished. Let it go. You don't change the past, you just ruin the present with resentment. Let it go! The past is past and nothing is going to change it. Not all the resentment and bitterness and anger, and hurt in the world is going to change your past. If you want your marriage to work. Quit trying to fix the past. Instead spend your energy on one another today. Quit fixing the blame -- who's at fault And start looking at the wonderful time of joy that is just ahead. If you want have real peace in your life start looking for the joy you are missing out on As anyone who went on the whitewater rafting trip. It would have been so easy to have looked around. To have been afraid. To have not paddled. To have given up.
But instead you had to “Paddle Thru the Rapids.” When we did, we came out on the other side. AND of it was a fun.
I am convinced this message is to someone who hears it today. Don't give up. Maybe this is the level you're at today. You are in a class five level five rapid. Maybe you've been carrying a hurt for so long you're thinking, “What is the use? Why even try? I'm at the end of my rope. The waves are gushing in all around me. I am in over my head. I want to throw in the towel. I want to call it quits.
I have felt that way myself. But the voice of God spoke to me and said. “Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Stay the course. Thank God that I did not give up. Thank God that my friends did not give up on me. Thank God my church supported me. Thank God for his word. “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.” 1 Peter 1:6 NLT Just “Paddle Thru the Rapids.”
