The Three Tides of Life
When we lived in eastern North Carolina, one of the things we checked before heading off to the beach was the tide chart to determine when high and low tides would occur that day. You are probably thinking – does it really matter? We like to collect shells and the best time for shell collecting is usually about an hour before and after low tide, so knowing the tides gave us a plan for beachcombing. It helped us avoid something else as well.
If you have ever been to the beach, you have undoubtedly seen that family who has little clue about the tides, always wanting to be a little too close to the water, only to soon find their spot “invaded” by that one big wave that makes its way up the beach further than any others. We chuckled at the blame game that usually occurred as those folks begrudgingly moved their soaking wet belongings further away from the water. So, knowing the tides helped us not be those people. But if truth be known, we didn’t always get it right either; our stuff did sometimes get wet.
While there is no set pattern to waves, did you know that oftentimes waves tend to group together in sets of usually three to ten waves. These sets occur when waves of differing speeds interact, making some waves bigger than the other surrounding waves. On any given beach, the majority of waves come from a similar source, so it is possible to “predict” which wave in any given set might be the biggest. If it was the third wave in the previous set, and assuming conditions have not dramatically changed, it could very well also the third wave in the next set. Not always, but fun to try and predict.
The tides are caused by the gravitational attraction of the ocean’s water to the sun and the moon, and there are two tidal bulges every lunar day (the time it takes for the moon to make one full rotation on its axis) with two high tides and two low tides. Because a lunar day – 24 hours and 50 minutes – is longer than a solar day, the tides are not exactly 6 hours apart.
You might not be aware that there is a third tide, called a slack tide. This is the short period of time when there is no movement either way in the tidal stream, before the direction of the tide changes. The two phases of the tide are called ebb and flow, with the ebb being when the water drains way from the shore and the flow being when the water rises again.
Just as it is with the tides, our faith journey also has ebbs and flows. Some days, weeks, or months it seems as if we are in sync with God and our faith is flowing, while at other periods of time we feel as it our faith is ebbing, draining away from God. And isn’t it also true that we have those “slack tide” periods too, when we just seem to be stuck in park.
While our faith constantly ebbs and flows, God never changes. He is continually working to carry out His plans and purposes, even when we don’t see it or feel it. Jesus, when questioned by Jewish leaders as to why He was doing things on the Sabbath replied this way, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). And elsewhere in the New Testament, in Romans 8:28, we find these familiar words, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purposes.”
So, today, regardless of whether you feel close to God or very distant, whether your tide is rising or falling, or somewhere in between, you can rest assured that God is at work, and He is in control and is calling you to simply be obedient by trusting in Him and His plans!
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