10/19/2017
Are you quietly preparing yourself for those things that the Lord would have you do? How about for His return? We are so busy doing things for God, in these days and times, that we forget to plan and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s return. We often treat this world as if it were the next, but this is only a shipyard in which we are being faired, and prepared to sail.
“Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."”
John 18:36 ESV
I saw a wonderful documentary on television about building wooden boats by hand. These were the kind of boats that were in use during the time of Jesus. One of the interesting techniques was how the boards were bent around the internal frame without breaking, or allowing them to pull themselves loose. To accomplish this the boatbuilder would build a fire beneath a long tray containing water. Then he would lay the prepared planks over the tray and cover it within a steam-box. This would allow the steam from the boiling water to soak deep into the board and make it pliable. When just the right amount of water had been absorbed, the plank was removed and either bent around the internal skeleton of the boat and pegged into place, or placed on a bending table that had been prepared to the exact shape needed. in this way the board would dry and take on the shape of the hull. The same process is used to this day, but the steamers are much more automated and modern. Taking a board that by its very nature is straight, and bending it into a curved shape takes some doing but gives it strength and beauty once completed... so does bending a man's will to the shape that God desires.
The art of wooden boat building is one that takes much time to master, and the actual building of the boat itself is a long and tedious process as well. Ancient boatbuilders didn't have power tools and they didn't rush to turn out more and more boats by sacrificing quality. As craftsmen they prided themselves first and foremost on the quality of their work... not how quickly they could do it. Steaming takes time, about an hour per inch of thickness at a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. This is precise work.
“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."”
Luke 17:20-21 ESV
As our planks are being prepared for their final installation onto the hull of our boat God makes us fair. This isn’t the same word we use every day to determine if we are being treated equitably, it has a totally different meaning:
“When wood is bent or curved or cut, or a line drawn, a boatbuilder must be concerned with fairness. A “fair curve” or line is one that is as smooth as it can be as it follows the hull of a boat. A fair line is free of extraneous bumps or hollows, and an unfair line needs to be faired, or smoothed out.” - www.clcboats.com
God is constantly examining our planks and fittings with His perfect eye, and determining if they fit perfectly alongside Jesus on the hull. He looks for straight lines and a smooth surface; He looks for cracks, or dips in them that would make the boat unsightly, or keep it from moving smoothly through the water without drag. If He sees an imperfection in them then he can either apply His hand to the blemish and remove it, or compensate for it in the next board. That is similar to what Jesus has done for us... His shape is the adjustment that makes us fair... He makes our edges appear smooth and makes us perfect in our fit. Jesus takes the imperfections in us and makes them fair in Him.
So we go through life and God works on our imperfections, and as He does, he lifts us time and again to the hull of His boat and holds us up next to Jesus to look at us with His perfect eye... are we smooth? Do we flow with the lines of His boat? Are we fair? This takes time to accomplish and much skill and patience. Are we, for our part, willing to allow God the time He needs, or do we get frustrated and fall from His hand? The boatbuilder loves the boat he is building, but no more so than each individual part that he meticulously shapes. God is our Boatbuilder and he takes all the time He needs to perfect us, but we need to allow Him time to plane us smooth, and steam us into shape. Oswald Chambers spoke a bit to this in my reading this morning when he said...
"We have to get rid of the plague of the spirit of the religious age in which we live. In Our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as His Master. The central thing about the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to Himself, not public usefulness to men." - Oswald Chambers
Using the analogy of our boat, Chambers is saying that today we have a tendency to rush into building our vessels. He also warns that the boat doesn’t tell the boatbuilder how it is to be built. The love and building of the boat is a partnership between boatbuilder, the wood, and the sailor who will sail it. The sailors don’t build their own boats, and the process of building takes time. They must have patience and confidence in the builder as he does his work. The boatbuilder isn’t as concerned about the ultimate use of the boat, but invites the sailor to love it as he does... to revel in its lines and fairness... to feel the crispness as it cuts through the water... to hear the wind popping the sails as they fill.
This is a final interesting observation I wish to make about wooden boatbuilders and the wooden boats they build... they rarely sail them themselves. They put all of their skill, sweat, blood, and love into them, and then deliver them, completed, to the intended sailors. God does this for us as well. He applies all of His love and attention to perfecting our boat; then He hands the boat, that is our eternal life, over to us and says “sail her; she is fair in all ways, she is pleasing to my eye, and she is yours!”
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the craftsmanship you are putting into my life. You are perfecting me Lord and making me fair in all of my ways. Your hand smooths my blemishes and removes my imperfections. You set me beside your Son Jesus Christ and Judge me, then you use His life, death, and resurrection to hide those places where my lines are not true. You mold me in your hand Father until at last I am the picture of fairness. You make me to withstand the roughest of seas, and to cut swiftly through the waters of my life. I may use my boat to fish from, gather sponges, or many other tasks, but the joy and purpose in your eyes is in my sailing her. You give me life Father, and you give it to me abundantly. By your hand I can navigate and sail my boat to where you wait for me... it is the vessel of our relationship and carries your love as its ballast. Guide me by the stars you have placed in the heavens, and steady my hand on the tiller in the rough seas through which I pass. Never let me doubt you and the strength you have built into me. Let me feel your breath in my sails and the spray on my face. In this boat I love you, even as you love me and the vessel you have prepared for me. I bear your name Father, it is stamped upon my keel, and placed as a banner atop my sails... you are my God and in you I trust all things... I trust my life. Praised be your name Father!!!
Rich Forbes