July 25, 2025 Devo

A few years ago, a family from Ohio had one of those experiences that parents have nightmares about. It was their first trip to the ocean, and they were enjoying the sun, the beach, and the waves. Their 8-year-old son Declan was playing in his cute little inflatable unicorn pool in the sand at the water’s edge. They were having the time of their lives. They turned their heads for just a moment, and when they turned back around, they saw that Declan and his pool had been pulled into the water by a strong wave. Before they could get to him to pull him back, the current had pulled him out past the breakers, where they couldn’t reach him.
Frantically, they began to yell for help. Water Rescue was quick to the scene and got a boat out to Declan to bring him back. By the time they reached him, he was a half mile from shore! He was terribly frightened, but otherwise fine. And two greatly relieved parents hugged him like they were never going to let go.
It doesn’t take long to drift away. Not from shore, and not from God. The Psalmist reminds us that we need to stay CLOSE. With a thousand things pulling at our hearts, it’s easy to get caught up in stuff and never even realize we’re drifting away from Him. We don’t mean to. We just get careless. We get busy and stop spending time with Him. We get caught up in our jobs, our hobbies, our friends, even our church “activities.” All GOOD things. But we lose touch with God. We stop leaning into Him, learning from Him, holding onto Him. Before long, we start doing things out of our own strength, out of our own wisdom, and out of our own purposes. Then, we have that startling moment when we suddenly realize we’ve lost touch with Him. Now we’re in trouble, and we have no idea how we got so far away. The answer? We drifted. We simply took our eyes off Him, and the waves of life carried us away. Now we’re crying out for help.
Don’t flirt with disaster. Don’t be careless with your life. There’s a BIG ocean out there that can hurt you in a thousand different ways. Stay close to God. Keep your eyes on Him and keep your life, your job, and all you do tethered to His Presence. You need Him more than you know. If you have drifted away, cry out to Him. God loves you like those parents loved their child. He will come to you, wherever you are, and bring you safely back to shore. So be careful out there today. Enjoy your life and all the good things God has laid at your feet. But stay close to Him. Most of us don’t run from God. We drift. That’s God’s Word for you today.