"And There Arose A Great Storm."

by R. Armstrong, Vancouver, Canada | Category: General | May 1953

The experience referred to in the above quotation found the Lord and His disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4.37). The last beams of light were fading from the western sky. Night was coming on, and so was the storm.

At length it burst upon them in its fury, and as they watched its power overcoming their frail vessel, the fear of a watery grave struck terror to the hearts of the disciples. Good for them that the Master was with them, although He lay asleep on the cushion.

The disciples seemed to have forgotten that He on whom they called in their distress, was none other than the Creator Himself, who had gathered the waters together and called them seas (Genesis 1. 9, 10), "He commanded and it stood fast."

What a marvellous revelation of divine power and deliverance they witnessed when that majestic One stood forth and hushed the storm and there was a great calm! What a profound lesson!

How like the experience of which the psalmist wrote,

"They ... are at their wits' end.

Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble,

And He bringeth them out of their distresses.

lie maketh the storm a calm,

So that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet;

So He bringeth them unto the haven of their desire

(Psalm 107.27-80 R.V.M.).

Our thoughts turn to other storms, the storms of life, through which the Christian too must pass, going to the better land. God has not promised calm seas and fair skies. Often He allows no small tempest to beat upon us, when sorrow comes in as a flood and trials, difficulties and temptations beset us.

In such experiences we need to sing:

Jesus, Lover of my soul,

Let me to Thy bosom fly,

While the raging billows roll,

While the tempest still is high

Hide me, 0 my Saviour, hide,

Till the storm of life is o'er,

Safe into the haven guide,

Where the tempest's heard no more."

Of this we may be sure, that He who "commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind" will be with us in the storm. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ... they shall not overflow thee" (Isaiah 43.2).

If sorrows crush our hearts, if trials well-nigh beyond endurance lie heavily upon us, temptations gather round as a darkening storm, and despair seizes us, be it ours to look up to God, who, all-wise and all loving, will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that we may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10.18).

What if through dark and stormy days our pathway lie, may we murmur not nor fear, for He, who with skilful hand and infinite love, weaves our web of time, is ever seeking to draw us to Himself.

One has written, "When God makes an oak, He plants it on the moor where storms will shake it 'and the rains beat down upon it, and it is in the midnight battle with the elements, that the oak wins its rugged fibre and becomes king of the forest." "So it is when God wants to make a man, He puts him into a storm."

Our thoughts turn to the scene of another storm, a cruel relentless storm, the like of which has never been, nor shall be. At midnight in the garden of Gethsemane, the Lord of life lay prostrate on the ground, sweating blood-like sweat, in unutterable anguish of soul. In the darkness of that hour, He bowed to the will of the Father who had sent Him to endure the greatest of all sufferings, that of bearing divine judgement for human guilt. Well He knew of God's righteous wrath which must be spent on Him, to expiate the dreadful curse of sin.

The tempest's awful voice was heard:

0 Christ, it broke on Thee!

Thy open bosom was my ward,

It braved the storm for me.

Thy form was scarred, Thy visage marred;

Now cloudless peace for me."

Are our hearts moved afresh within us as we think of the floods of death through which the blessed Redeemer passed, that He might bring us eternal joys? His was the dark and awful experience foretold in Psalm 42.7

"Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waters pouts

All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over Me."

Whether our pathway lies in the vale of storm and darkness, or on the sunlit summits of brighter days, what strength and blessing come when we repair to the scenes of Calvary!

Have our souls fainted in adversity, have we felt the weight of a trial too great, or has love's lamp within, flickered low?

"Go to Gethsemane my soul,

Watch with the Saviour there;

Ponder His pretaste of the cup,

Then to the cross repair."

Soon, the storms of life will be over, and we shall reach that fair celestial city, to dwell for ever with Christ, who guided us with unerring hand.

"When the day break and the shadows flee away" (Song of Songs 2.17, R.V.M.). "He bringeth them unto the haven of their desire" (Psalm 107.30 R.V.M.).

R. Armstrong, Vancouver, Canada | May 1953
General