Here There Be Dragons

Here There Be Dragons

Psalms 105:25-30

  There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, creatures both small and great. There the ships sail, and Leviathan (the sea monster) which You have  formed to play there. They all wait for you, to give them their food in its appointed season. You give it to them, they gather it up: You open your Hand, they are filled and satisfied with good (things).

   You hide your face, they are dismayed. You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send out Your Spirit, they are created. You renew the face of the ground.

Psalms 74:13

“You divided the Sea by Your Strength; You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan. You gave him as food first creatures of the wilderness.”

   I have a copy of an old map, I bought it  years ago because the sea monsters featured in the ocean waters captured my imagination. It is said that cartographers would draw in dragons or sea monsters in the areas of uncharted waters to signify that they didn’t know what was there. An old globe is found to have the Latin words meaning “Here be dragons,” inscribed on it.

   Uncharted waters of life are scary. Parenting through all these phases are dreadful and exciting. We are in a medieval sailing adventure on the high seas. Mean girls, mean boys, the saga of sailing continues. Sometimes we are the persecutors and sometimes we’re the persecuted. We continually enter the uncharted areas and quickly realize, “Here there be dragons!” In fact, I could write “Here be dragons,” on my forehead for anyone getting to know me and it would be truthful.

   Try not to fear, the Creator of the greatest of all dragons loves you. He will hold your ship as you chart a straight course through the chaos. You might get wet, but remember to love the adventure with your fellow sailors. I believe God allows the natural chaos of struggle in our lives to teach us and then show us how to write on the map for others the warning, “Here there be dragons”. We can’t quiet the storm or make the dragons go away but we can learn how to keep the ship from breaking apart.

If you’ve read Moby Dick, you remember how the old bitter whaling Captain Ahab’s one goal in life was to kill the whale that made him lose his leg. The bitterness against a whale’s natural act of survival made him lose his focus about what whaling actually was for. In the end, he lost his life, his ship went down in pieces and all sailors but one died in a churning sea. The surviving sailor who wrote the book (fictional) left an ending note of admiration for Moby Dick, dangerous creature of the wild depths.

   Sometimes you have to marvel at the ferocity of the dragons and respect them enough to sail away. Let the Creator deal with the creatures He has created. It says in Psalms, He can break their heads (just how my brothers used to cut the heads off of snakes to kill them).

   The following is how the mighty monster is explained in the Amplified Bible in Job 41 as if in a way to mock men’s weakness in the face of such chaotic power. As I read it and think of it as the dragon of evil, miscommunication or broken friendships, I realize we are helpless against the waves of life and can’t conquer against the dragons under the deep waters. The only way out is through a trust in God. Let go of what others think or say and let Him have full control as the ship tosses until we feel sick to our stomachs. Hold on through the storm, the dawn is coming. Keep a distance from the monstrous crocodiles and alligators. God is bigger than the dragons and knows the way to fight them.

   Job 41 (AMP)

“Can you draw out Leviathon with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope of rushes into his nose or pierce his jaw through with a hook? Will he make many supplications to you (begging to be spared) Or will he speak soft words to you (to coax you to treat him kindly)? Will he make an arrangement with you? Will you take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as a bird? Or will you bind him (and put him on a leash) for your maidens?

Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons? Or his head with fish spears? Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, you will not do such a thing again.

Behold, the hope of defeating him is false. Will not one be overwhelmed even at the sight of him?  Who then is he that can stand before Me? (or dares to contend with me, the beast’s creator) Who has first given to me that i should repay him?

   Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.

   I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his orderly frame. Who can penetrate or strip off his outer armour? Who can come to his jaws with a double bridle? Who can open the jaws of his face? Around his open jaws and teeth there is terror.His strong scales are his pride, bound together with a tight seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another. They stick together and cannot be separated.

His sneezes flash forth light and his eyes are like the reddish eyelids of the dawn. Out of his mouth go burning torches and sparks of fire heap out. Out of his nostrils smoke goes forth. As from a boiling pot and as from burning rushes. His breath kindles coals and a flame goes forth from his mouth.

  In Leviathon’s neck resides strength and dismay and terror dance before him. The folds of his flesh are joined together firm on him and immobile (when he moves). His heart is hard as a stone, indeed, as solid as a lower millstone.

   When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. Because of the crashing, they are bewildered. The sword that reaches him cannot avail, nor does the spear, the dart or the javelin. He considers iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee. Slingstones are treated as rubble by him. Clubs also are regarded as stubble. He laughs at the rushing and the rattle of the javelin. His underparts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery. He moves across and spreads out (grooves) like a threshing sledge out on the mire. He makes the deep water boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a (foaming) pot of ointment. Behind him he makes a shining wake, one would think the deep to be gray haired (with foam).

   Upon earth there is nothing like him-no equal exists, a creature made without fear. He looks on everything that is high (without terror) He is monarch over all the sons of pride.

  And now, Job, who are you who does not dare to disturb the beast yet who dares to resist Me, the beast’s Creator?!

Everything under the heavens is Mine; therefore, who can have a claim against God?”

Psalm 105:31

May the Glory of the Lord endure forever; May the Lord rejoice and be glad in His Works.