November 18 - James 1:19-2:17 - Go With the Flow

Have you heard of this? From the British publication 'The Telegraph'...

Undersea river discovered flowing on sea bed

Photo: University of Leeds

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 8:00AM BST 01 Aug 2010

Researchers working in the Black Sea have found currents of water 350 times greater than the River Thames flowing along the sea bed, carving out channels much like a river on land.

The undersea river, which is up to 115ft deep in places, even has rapids and waterfalls much like its terrestrial equivalents.

If found on land, scientists estimate it would be the world's sixth largest river in terms of the amount of water flowing through it.

Pretty cool! I've heard of rivers that flow underground, but rivers that flow underwater?! 

As I re-read the first chapter of James, I'm beginning to think this underwater river thing could be a metaphor for his writing. At first run through, it looks like James is tossing up waves of New Testament wisdom almost like the book of Proverbs, where the topics change quickly from one to another. But underneath James' "sea" of content there is a "river" of logic. I'm sensing a thread of reason that might be flowing through the flow. Here's how I'm connecting it ...

We should be quick to listen and slow to speak.
We should especially be quick to listen to and receive the Word of God.
We should not only listen to the Word, but we should do it.
We should not only listen and do, we should look intently into the Word      on our own to do it.
And when we do it, it should look like compassionate ethical action and       not just "religion."
And when we act, there should be no favoritism in our actions.
And when we act, they should be acts rich in mercy.
And when we act in this way, we prove our faith to be genuine;
Pure faith, acceptable to God, not dead religionism.

What is intriguing to me about this, even more intriguing than the discovery of an undersea river with rapids and waterfalls, is that a pure and acceptable faith begins with the ability to be quiet. What a challenge in the media-overload world we live in. Do we have the discipline to switch off our iPod, our iPhone and our iPad and be still? Do we have the restraint to keep from emulating the pantheon of talking heads, shock jocks, radio ranters, political commentators, stand-up comedians, etc.? How do we get to "slow to speak" in a world that speaks faster and more frequently than ever? 

To navigate the rapids of a river that flows to true faith, we would be wise to develop the discipline of silence. Put yourself regularly in a place where the heartbeat of God is the only sound around. Like the submarine that photographed the sub-marine river --
run silent and  run deep.

Pray: Help me, Lord. I'm battered in a tumult of noise. Help me to submerge beneath the crashing chaos. Let the storm of words rage on above me as I sink deep into the calm of Your presence, Spirit and Word. Buoy me and carry me all the way to pure and acceptable faith.