Safety in Troubled Waters

Life is unpredictable. There is beauty and joy but also darkness and sorrow. Sometimes our reality is external chaos and inner turmoil as we deal with human tragedies and conundrums that leave us discouraged, frustrated, anxious, angry, or fearful.  When we are buffeted and battered by difficult, sad, and trying times, we need encouragement and guidance to navigate through those emotion-filled challenges.

The Apostle Peter tells us that God’s Word is “a lamp shining in a dark place” (1 Peter 1:19). When “fear comes as a storm” or “calamity as a whirlwind”, when distress and anguish overwhelms, the Psalmist assures us that “He makes the storm a calm, So that the waves thereof are still (Psalm 107:29)

Christ embodied that ancient statement as he was sailing in a small boat with his disciples when a terrible storm overtook them. He calmly slept while the waves were breaking over and filling the boat. Awakened by his panicked boat mates, he spoke, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:37-41)

Christ was there for his friends in the midst of their faith building storm. He calmed them along with the tempest. He is here in the midst of our upheavals as well, is not surprised by our troubles, and is worthy of our trust. He clearly demonstrated his power and jurisdiction over all aspects of life by healing physical disease and mental disorders, exerting control over natural laws and events, resisting and overpowering supernatural forces, and conquering death by raising the dead and most importantly by his own resurrection. Even today, lives are permanently and eternally transformed because of his redemptive work. If we trust him, He has power to save and to sustain our souls, and to give calmness and the “peace… that passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7) “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

It is that peace which Horatio Spafford experienced and about which he wrote in 1873 after his son died from scarlet fever and his four daughters were lost at sea,

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul.