Abbey Muzio is a three-year-old little girl with blonde hair and I tell you she’s got the biggest smile ever. Her mother, Melanie, is a good friend of mine; and she told me recently that Abbey is going through a stage. Although a fun-loving little girl, Abbey has got this huge fear of water. If she dares stick her foot in a pool, she only does so wearing water wings, life vests, a Donald Duck inner tube, clutching her mommy’s neck and whimpering, “You won’t let me doe? Please, don’t let me doe.” Though Melanie struggles to breathe in Abbey’s vice-grip, she assures, “Sweetie, I won’t let you go.”
Boy, does this story speak to me. Life situations that have a potential for danger or disappointment – I mean isn’t it true how easily they can foster fear in our hearts? I am so like Abbey, attempting to grab God in an arm lock and insisting, “Don’t let me doe!” I don’t want the risks. I don’t like the idea of hurting or losing. I don’t want to go under in life. Don’t let me doe. Rather than fear, we need to have faith. Isaiah 43:1-3 puts it this way, “But now, this is what the Lord says... ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you... For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...’”
Boy, do I love that verse. I guess I should call it my Abbey verse. Because Isaiah 43 is a beautiful picture of God's provision. No swimming pool is so deep – no Chesapeake Bay in which I broke my neck was so scary – no flood that hits the gulf coast is so devastating – no rivers, no water is so high that God and his grace is not higher and wider and more wonderfully deeper still. In Christ, we can never “go under” in life. The risks of being hurt or losing are scary, but the fact is, nothing – absolutely nothing – can touch my soul – can touch your soul, for Jesus himself said in John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” Friend, God has a vice-grip on you. He has the eternal security of your soul in an arm-lock. He will never, ever let you go! He has the good of your soul, the purity of your heart, the safety of your spirit. He has only what’s best for you.
Do you know what Melanie, Abbey’s mother told me? She said – now listen to this because it sure sounds like God talking to me – Melanie told me, “I wish Abbey would simply relax and trust me. I don’t want her to be afraid; I want her to have fun in the water. She needs to realize that my hold on her is more secure than any grip she has on me.” Wow! That’s a lesson about God we all need to learn.
Oh God, don’t let me doe. And you know what? He won’t.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
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