OUR LIFE IS IN HIS HANDS…
March 2006
When Salmon are ready to spawn, they leave the ocean and begin a journey of up to 2000 miles over a period of 4-5 months to return to the stream where they were born. They remember the scent of their home stream and follow that scent until they find their way home. They travel upstream, against the current, continuously day after day with no break, no vacation, no rest until they arrive at their destination. Any time they would let up….the current of the stream sends them back toward the ocean they have left behind. In order to swim against the current day after day, they jump from the water making headway only to land back in the current and lose a portion of their progress. Then another jump and another and another! No time to stop and consider quitting or turning around and changing directions. From the beginning of the journey to the end, they continue to press!
Apostle Paul lived a life much like the salmon. His life was filled with adversity. Prison cells, ship wrecks, beatings and snake bitten, he continued on not looking back to the place where he came from. Rather he made this proclamation…”I press toward the mark to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He knew this was a pressing way…no looking back…no giving up…rising again at the end of each attack.
As the salmon make this journey home, the appearance of the salmon begins to change. The male salmon develops a hooked snout…the pink salmon develops a hump on his back…the chum salmon develop purple streaks down his side and the sockeye salmon turn bright red. At any point on their journey, you could determine how far they are from the ocean and how close they are to their home! The more developed the snout, the closer to home they are. The brighter red they are, the closer to home they are! So it is in our own life. The farther we get from our old lifestyle and the closer we get to our home, the more our nature changes. The old man that we were, we are no longer. You can tell how close we are to home by how our nature has been transformed!
Our confidence is in the fact that the same God that has placed something within the salmon to lead them back to the same stream where they were born is also watching over His own! “…He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “…for I will hasten (watch over) my word to perform it.” “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” And last but not least, “For a just man falls seven times and rises up again…” We will not be defeated, we will not quit, we will rise up over and over again until we arrive at our destination! Our life is in His hands and we are confident of this one thing…”He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
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