Under Toe

Written by Julie Cosgrove

God’s protection is just one side of His character. Get to know Him even better with our free study on the character of God.

“Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.” (Psalm 77:19)

When I was a child, my family would head for the Texas coast on Memorial Day. Being too young to frolic in the waves by myself, my father would lift me onto his shoulders. As the waves flowed to his waist and chest, they would swirl around my legs. I could touch the waves and splash, but my dad was protecting me, holding on tight. His feet dug into the sand to steady us, just under the water.

Secure and giddy, I never felt any danger. I wasn’t afraid of the ocean even though I had seen the news reports of the hurricanes and witnessed the leftover damage along the beach. But on those summer days on the Gulf, the ocean was my friend because Daddy was there, his feet in the sand and me on his shoulders.

When I grew older and wanted to venture in on my own, I learned about undertow – the mucky sand pits that can swirl around your feet and threaten to topple you as the waves ebb and flow. You can feel the power of their pull on your ankles and if you stand there in the current long enough, you will start to sink into it, get stuck, and the waves can pound over you. There were also things lurking under the water you could not see, like broken shards of sea shells, sticky tar balls, Man O’Wars and Jellyfish.

“Footprints in the Sand” is a very familiar inspirational poem. The footprints in the sand along the beach of time were sometimes in twos as God and Man walked side by side. But when there was only one pair, it was when God was carrying Man.

This verse from Psalm 77 gives another image of God’s footprints. It shows them, like my dad’s, unseen because they are deep below the surface. They are under the waves, dug into the sand—under-toe, so to speak. But just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they are not there steadying us. Perhaps those are the times that we learn He not only walks on water, but walks underneath it and through it as well—all for our protection.

Life is better and safer when we are on our Father’s shoulders. He knows what lies below the surface of our lives. I prefer to frolic in the safety of his grasp—don’t you?

Questions: When has God carried you? When have you felt the pull of life “under-toe”?

Tags: devo, Devotional, protection, Psalm 77:19, Women

3 Responses to “Under Toe”

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Sharon says:

January 30, 2012 at 7:53 pm

God is lifting me right now and I’ve seen his mighty hand throughout my life.
Even now that I’m facing a few things that cause concern..”I cast my cares upon him for he careth for me.”
Barbara says:

January 26, 2012 at 1:56 pm

Growing up with no father to lift me onto his shoulders nor to never have had the opportunity to say, “Happy Birthday/Happy Fathers Day Daddy” scared me as a little girl and a young women too UNTIL my Heavenly Father, stepped in, lifted me out of the mud and mire, and carried me for a very long time as HE patched, repaired, and healed my broken heart. To HIM I give all the glory and look forward to seeing HIM who loves, protects and provides like no other….
JJ says:

January 26, 2012 at 11:36 am

I receive the devotional everyday. I always find a phrase or prayer that I repost on FB. Today was the first type I took advantage of the additional study The Power of God, it was good stuff. Keep up the good work