Rocks and Shoals

 "The wicked have set their traps for me, but I will not turn from your commandments." Psalm 119:110

A ship tossed in the storm, needs a chart.

       Every ship that sails on the ocean has in the captain's room a chart. You have all seen maps of this state, and you know by looking at the map where every city and river and mountain is. A chart is a map of the ocean. There are dangers down underneath the smooth waters which the captain's eye cannot see. They are all marked carefully on the chart, and if he sails the ship by the chart he will escape them.

       Sometimes just a little below the water are great sharp rocks, and if the captain were to forget to look at that map of the sea he would run into one of those hidden rocks and the ship would sink.

       There are shoals also for which he must be on the lookout. A shoal is a very shallow place in the sea. If the ship runs on a shoal it sticks fast, and has a hard time to get off, and sometimes is broken to pieces by the waves before they can save it.

       On the captain's chart every lighthouse and light-ship and buoy, and every rock and shoal is carefully marked, for the safety of the people who travel on the ships.

       Life is very much like a ship, sailing out to sea. We need a chart to point out the safe places and to show us how to avoid the dangers. God has given us a book to be our chart. It is the Bible.

       Let me tell you some of the people whom you know who ran on the rocks because they did not watch the chart carefully enough. The first boy in the Bible was named Cain. His was the very first ship that ever put out to sea from a home in this world. But do you know he let his ship run into a rock called " bad temper," and before he knew it he had killed his brother. A great many good ships have been wrecked on that rock. We must look out for it by watching the Bible carefully.

       Another was Absalom. He was King David's favorite son. The Bible says, "Honor thy father and thy mother." But Absalom was one of those boys who knew more than anybody else. He wasn't going to bother about that old chart. He knew where to go himself. And one day, crash! He ran into the rock of " disobedience" and  that was the end of him. It would never have happened if he had watched the chart.

       Over in the New Testament is Ananias. He was a business man. He was so busy making money that he thought that he didn't have time to look at the chart to see where he was going, and all at once he ran into that rock called "lie" and he went down and was never seen again.

       But rocks are not the only dangers we have to look out for. There are the shoals. One of the very worst shoals is laziness. I knew a man who had plenty of ability and a fine education. He might have been a great man. He started out well, but he never went far. One day he just stopped working and there he stayed the rest of his life. Do you know what was the trouble ? He ran on the shoal of laziness, and there he stuck fast. If he had read the book of Proverbs, he would have known enough to have steered away from that dangerous shallow place.

       There is one more dangerous shoal that I must tell you about. Once there was a man named Demas. He thought it would be a great thing to be a missionary like Paul and love and help other people. He started out like a fine ship going on a long, happy voyage. Then he began to think how much it was going to cost him; all the good things he would have to give up, and the pleasure he would miss if he went with Paul. So he stopped and did not go. He stuck fast on the shoal of selfishness. We must be careful and not be caught on this shoal.

       Often a ship is in danger. There is fog on the ocean, or it is near rocks or shoals. At such a time the captain never leaves the pilot-house for a second. He keeps his eye on the chart and the compass every moment. There are many dangerous rocks and shoals which we must avoid. If we will keep near to the Bible and follow its directions, we will not fear what may be before us.