June 25

Christ in the Storm

He ... rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still — Mark 4:39

He spoke to the storm and to the tossing sea as if they were intelligent creatures, — just as a man would speak to his servants. The truth we learn here is that He is Lord of nature; that the elements recognize His voice, and obey Him even in their wildest moods. If we only fully believed this, it would bring a great deal of peace to our lives. No tempest ever breaks from the control of Him who is our Lord and Redeemer. No wave ever rolls any farther than He permits. There is nothing in this world that is not under the sway of the hand that was nailed on the cross.

There is a story of a Christian army officer at sea with his family in a storm. There was great terror among the passengers, but he was calm. His wife, in her consternation, chided him, saying that he ought to be concerned for her and the children, if not for himself, in such danger. He made no reply, but soon came to her with his sword drawn, and with a stern countenance pointed it at her heart. She was not the least alarmed, but looked up into his face with a smile. “What!” said he, ” are you not afraid when a drawn sword is at your breast?” “No,” she replied, “not when I know it is in the hands of one that loves me.” “And would you have me,” he asked, “to be afraid of this tempest when I know it to be in the hand of my heavenly Father, who loves me?” Thus even in the wild tumults of nature we should be at peace, since our Saviour is Lord of nature. Some one tells of being at sea in a terrible cyclone, and of seeing a little bird fly down, when the storm was at its height, and light on the crest of a wave, where it sat as quietly as if it had been perching on some green bough in the quiet forest. So should the believer in Christ repose in quietness and confidence in the wildest terror.