I watched The Shack movie Saturday for the first time. I’ve never read the book. There was a scene in the movie where Jesus suggests the main character, Mack, take Jesus’ boat out on the lake and fish if he’d like.
Mack goes alone and then some dark memories from an incident on the lake start to overtake him. Suddenly the water turns black and gross. His boat starts to break apart and sink. Just when he’s starting to panic, sure he’ll have to swim in this blackness, Jesus appears and tells Mack to look at him.
Mack asks, “Why are you doing this to me?”
Jesus says he’s not doing it to him, that it’s all inside of Mack – that it can’t hurt him, that it’s not real and to look at Him.
Mack insists, “You told me to come out here!”
Finally Mack looks at Jesus. The boat is fixed and the blackness goes away. All is calm and still. Jesus takes Mack out on the water and they walk across the lake together. A little later, Jesus and Mack have a wonderful foot race across the lake.
I’ve pondered on this scene a lot since watching the movie. I knew it held an important message for me. First, I could see where the “void” my husband said he felt inside himself was caused by his own fears, insecurities and resentments. His inner storm destroyed our marriage.
There were no real problems. They were all inside him.
Then, yesterday I realized there was a message for me in this scene. While, yes, it might apply to my husband’s choices, it also told me something important about mine.
I felt very strongly that God told me to marry my second husband. I cannot deny the overwhelming divine download of love that came to me after praying for 24 days about whether to open my heart to him.
I have been like Mack at times since our breakup, “Why did you do this to me? You told me to come out here! You caused this!”
Yes, God did tell me to come out here… out in the middle of the lake where my husband’s inner doubts, fears, insecurities and harbored resentments would sink the ship of our marriage. And, yes God knew all along it would happen. He did not cause it to happen, but He knew it would.
That’s okay, because Christ is here and something beautiful is coming from it. Would Mack have ever walked on water if he hadn’t learned to keep his eyes on Christ in his darkest moment? Would he later race across the water, running alongside Jesus to the other side? I think not.
Out of the sinking ship of my marriage, my trust in Jesus Christ has grown to a level it has never reached before. My eyes are fixed on Him and I feel like we’re walking on water together.
I look forward to that footrace across the lake with Him. I can’t wait to see where it leads.
If you get a chance to see The Shack, I really enjoyed it. I hope you will too.
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