Finding Your Footing When You’re in Over Your Head
By Jessica Brodie
You might find it odd for someone who grew up in Miami, Florida, and went to the beach a lot, but I’m not a huge fan of the ocean. It’s pretty, and I like to look at it, but I’m not terribly wild about the sand, I’ve been afraid of sharks since I saw Jaws as a little kid, and don’t really like to swim all that much. My happy place is the mountains, but my kids were all clamoring for a `beach vacation, so I did what I knew I had to—I booked an Airbnb on the water.
The first day I thought I’d just flip through a magazine on my beach towel while the kids played in the surf, but it felt like 145 degrees outside, and soon I knew I had to hit the water pronto or I’d turn into a pile of slime. So I waded in to my ankles, then my calves, and then I was swimming with the rest of my family.
Of course, sharks were at the least thing I had to worry about—that day the waves were pretty fierce, and we were all getting knocked over. It was fine, until I couldn’t feel the bottom anymore. I’d made a step into a sudden drop-off. The magnitude of where I was hit me—one lone woman and a bunch of kids with boogie boards in the Atlantic Ocean. Anything could happen!
But I took a breath, set my sights on the shore, and swam a couple of feet that way. A moment later my toes touched the sand, and everything was right again. I found my solid ground.
Life can definitely be like that sometimes, can’t it? We’re humming along, swimming through the waters of life, and everything is going great. Then something happens that makes you realize how vulnerable you are. Maybe you lose your job or a relationship ends. Maybe you make a colossal mistake and are convinced everyone now sees you for the fraud you surely are.
Or maybe it’s a big project, a job you thought you could handle, but now realize you are wildly underqualified to handle. Or it’s an undertaking you committed to and now wonder what in the world you were thinking to say yes.
You’ve stepped off the drop-off into the uncontrollable, vast ocean—you’re in over your head.
I imagine that’s what David thought when God called him to be king. He was a simple shepherd kid doing his thing in the wilderness, then all of a sudden, he was anointed and chosen. I’m sure at first it felt great—finally, someone recognized his worth. Then he was standing in front of Goliath with only a stone and a slingshot. Things had suddenly gotten real.
Of course, we can read the Bible and find out what happened—David had nothing to fear. God used him to show his glory. With that stone and slingshot, God enabled David to slay the mighty giant and save Israel.
As David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:45-47 NIV).
Out in the ocean, my “solid ground” was an illusion, only sand beneath my toes that could slip away at any moment. But David’s solid ground, the Lord God Almighty, is reliable and true. God never lets us down. He walks with us and keeps us safe in His arms, and we can trust that at the end of our earthly lives, we get a new life: with Him for eternity in heaven. As Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
And as He told the people earlier, during His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
If you’re in a place where you feel over your head or lost, whether that’s loneliness or being overburdened, overworked, or overwhelmed, take heart. God is our solid ground. Our house is not built on sand but on a foundation of rock, sturdy and reliable.
Now and forever.
