After completing my 2nd open-water swimming event, I reflected on my swimming journey and the reason why I started – to overcome my fear of big, dark bodies of water. Chatting to others, I soon realized that this fear was quite common. It stems from a primal fear of the unknown, the unchartered. What is lurking in the deep, dark depths? In the book of Job, we learn of the Leviathan, a powerful sea creature that man cannot subdue. The sea represents chaos, the unknown, and disorder. We become fearful and anxious as we have no control in this realm, but God does. In Genesis, we read the creation story of how God created order from chaos, separating the land from the sea. Often, we find ourselves amidst the chaos of the world, anxiously holding our breath, unable to subdue ‘Leviathan’. But we are not to fear, as we belong to God, the creator who rules over creation, giving us meaning and peace within the chaos. “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?” (Job 38:8-11). Open Bible – https://bit.ly/Job38v8-11 (Jeremy G)
