Swimming in the Deep End

Jonah's Prayer 
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
   and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep,
   into the heart of the seas,
   and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
  passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am driven away
  from your sight;
yet I shall again look
   upon your holy temple.’
  The waters closed in over me to take my life;
  the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
  at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
  whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
  O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
  I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
  into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols
  forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
  will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
  Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
Jonah 2:1-9

My first experience I remember of being in a swimming pool was at the YMCA when I was 6 or 7 years-old. The swimming class consisted of only a handful of small children. The instructors, contrary to my expectations, led us from the shallow end of the swimming pool to the deep end. They lined the students up on the side the pool. One of the instructors peeled off his t-shirt and dived into the pool, while a different instructor picked up a safety hook hanging on the wall. The third instructor told the first child to jump in and grab for the hook. She assured the pupil that they would help him. He obeyed and jumped in. The student was led to the hook by the instructor in the pool, The pupil grabbed the hook and was promptly pulled out of the water. The process continued with the next student. It was then my turn. I stepped up to the side of the pool with a little trepidation, I took a deep breath and jumped. It seemed like I sank to the bottom of the pool, but it must have been only a foot or two. I was never underwater before for so long. I felt the instructor gently pushed me a certain direction, I opened my eyes, saw the hook, and eagerly grabbed it. The swimming coaches whisked me out of the pool. I hoped to do it again, but when all the students had their turn, the instructors sat us down and explained that the exercise was to teach us to trust them. They were trained and had the right equipment to protect us. We needed not to be afraid of the water.  The instructors said they would start the next lesson in the shallow end, but if we worked hard we would be swimming and diving into the deep end by end of the summer.

This experience came back to me as I read the great Puritan writer, Stephen Charnock. In his chapter on the wisdom of God, he asserted that God teaches the same lesson to his children. God may allow us to drown in our sin or to overwhelm us at times with suffering so that we may turn and trust him. Charnock used as an illustration this principle of human nature that a person drowning in open waters will grab anything that will provide salvation.

Stephen Charnock
The falls of believers God orders to their further stability: he that is fallen for want of using his staff, will lean more upon it to preserve himself from the like disaster. God, by permitting the lapses of men, often makes them despair of their own strength to subdue their enemies, and rely upon the strength of Christ, wherein God hath laid up power for us, and so becomes, stronger in that strength which he hath ordained for them. We are very apt to trust in ourselves, and have confidence in our own worth and strength; and God lets loose corruptions to abate this swelling humour. This was the reason of the apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh, 2 Cor. 12. 9, whether it were a temptation, or corruption, or sickness, that he might be sensible of his own inability, and where the sufficiency of grace for him was placed. He that is in danger of drowning, and hath the waves come over his head, will with all the might he hath, lay hold upon any thing near him, which is likely to save him. God lets his people sometimes sink into such a condition, that they may lay the faster hold on him who is near to all that call upon him.(pp. 296-297, The Existence and Attributes of God, Volume 7 of 50 Greatest Christian Classics, 2 Volumes in 1 )

There are multiple examples of God allowing his saints to endure overwhelming testing. I quoted Jonah's song of deliverance above. Another example is Job who endured suffering beyond measure, but God, in his timing, revealed himself to Job. Job's faith was revived and deepened. A great example is King David. 1 Samuel 30 records one of the deepest valleys in David's life. Most men would have given up, retreated into mountains, and taken up shepherding. God disciplined David by removing everyone to whom David could turn: his wives and children were kidnapped; his mentor Samuel was dead; Saul who was David's king was seeking to kill him; and his men wanted to stone him.  David, in these circumstances, had nowhere to turn but God,  As we see in 1 Samuel 30:6c, David found His escape, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord."

In our times of "drowning" or being overwhelmed by sin or suffering, we must remember 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Like the lifeguards who protected me, God will provide the means for our rescue. We must submit to God's gentle prods toward our escape from sin and suffering and like my first experience in the swimming pool, we must open our eyes to look for the means of escape beyond ourselves to overcome temptation. At times, it is a matter of trust in the promise of 1st Corinthians 10:13. We need to rely on God's character and his benevolence towards us to look diligently for the means of escape.