Shark Teeth
Whenever my family goes to my favorite aunt's and uncle's (on my dad's side) lake house we usually go looking for shark teeth. To do this we have to drive down to someone else's dock and go to the shallow part of the lake and just start sifting our hands through the sand, sometimes to make the process go a little faster we'll bring a few strainers. The looking can be a little monotonous and many times we've gone home empty handed. So what makes us keep going back to look? We've found some before. When someone finds a shark's tooth everyone gets excited and ooos and aahhhs over the tooth. The best scenario is when you find one, when you feel your hand hit something hard and you look down and it's not a rock but a perfect smooth shark's tooth. You're convinced that this is the best shark's tooth that has ever been discovered. You do a victorious fist pump in the air showing everyone what you have found. You take the shark's tooth and put it in a safe place, and every now and again you bring it back out and the same excitement and amazement is still there as you look at the tooth.
Finding shark's teeth is (in my mind) like searching out the deep things of God. Often we as Americans want things to happen quick. We want to know the deep things of God without ever having to do anything. Most of us are satisfied with just going to church on sunday morning and listening to what the pastor has to say about what he found out about God. This is like when someone else finds a shark tooth, yes it's exciting and we can marvel at what they found. How often do you remember what the pastor said? There are some sermons that just stick with you they strike your heart you ooo and ahh over what the pastor said, but think about if you had gotten that revelation for yourself. How much more would that have struck your heart? When you find out something about the living God it messes you up. You can't function the same as you did before. You carry that "shark's tooth" around with you and you go around showing it to everyone hoping that it will have the same impact on them as it did on you. When you find these things it stirs something up in your spirit just like with Moses. I don't think Moses had a speech problem, I think Moses had a God problem. Moses was once a military leader...would they have put someone with a speech problem in charge of their military? I don't think so, Moses had an encounter with the living God and it messed him up. It was ingrained in his mind forever. 1 Corinthians 2:10 says "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." This verse isn't saying the Spirit is finding out new things about God. The Spirit lives inside of us and is here to teach us about the deep things of God. The Spirit knows all of the deep things of God, so we have a great helper that has come to show us who this God that we serve really is. We have committed our lives to Him, but have we taken anytime to get to know Him? I don't know about ya'll but I want to know all about this God that I'm serving. I think this is why so many people struggle, they don't know who they're serving. We've heard He's good and He is! That's great that we serve a good God but I want more than that. I want to get into the word (lake) and read and keep reading so I can find more shark teeth. I don't want to stop after I've just found one, but I want to keep looking I want to keep searching. Some days I may come up without anything, but I know there's a shark tooth there and I want to find it. I want the joy and the ecstasy that comes with getting a new revelation of who God is.
So I'm going to show you how to find some shark teeth. Look through the word and find some of His attributes, pick one and focus on it, get verses about it, and sit and meditate on them. For example the self-existence of God. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God." Revelation 21:6 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." We've heard these verses but what do they mean? In the beginning...when was the beginning? As humans we can't even begin to fathom what this word "beginning" means. For us everything comes from something...everything has an origin. So where did God come from? The beginning. What did the beginning look like? He's been here forever? What's forever? As you begin this thought process as you begin to sit and meditate you develop and godly fear "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom" (Psalm 111:10) So I encourage you this week to go looking for shark's teeth. If you don't get anything don't be discouraged there's plenty there it takes time. Look into His wisdom, his omnipresence, his mercy, his wisdom....there's some big ones, and if you sit and really look into it you'll understand why we need to fear Him, why need to serve HIm, why we need to praise Him, and why we love Him.
God Bless
Ashley