After (and in the Midst of) the Storm
I was sitting at my desk by a window Monday when some afternoon thundershowers blew through. They didn’t last very long, but I did leave my spot by the window and unplug my laptop for a little while–just in case.
In the late afternoon, Ray pointed out the beautiful light outside the window above his desk. Naturally, I went out to capture it on film (uh, film, what’s that? It just sounds so much nicer than “get a digital image” which is what I actually did). The western sun shines across my flower garden on sunny late afternoons. After a storm, the light is soft and especially beautiful and the colors so clear.
One day Jesus got into a boat and His disciples followed Him. While Jesus slept, a great storm came up on the sea, a storm so severe that the boat was being covered with waves. The disciples woke Jesus, begging Him to save them and telling Him that they were perishing.
First Jesus asked why they were afraid and called them men of little faith. Then, He spoke to the winds and the sea. When He did, there was perfect calm.
Our challenge is to be like Jesus. Calm in the storm, if the banana bread is raw in the middle or the textbooks are two weeks late or Jason isn’t reading or the medical tests are not encouraging. Calm in the storm is possible because Jesus has it covered.
The lyrics (by Mary A. Baker, 1874) and the tune (by Horatio R. Palmer, also 1874) of the hymn, “Master, The Tempest Is Raging,” takes me right into the boat with Jesus and the disciples and reminds me that He is “in the boat” with me. As a matter of fact, the old adage is true: “We are all in the same boat.”
Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threatening
A grave in the angry deep?
Chorus
The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!
Verse 2
Master, with anguish of spirit
I bow in my grief today;
The depths of my sad heart are troubled
Oh, waken and save, I pray!
Torrents of sin and of anguish
Sweep o’er my sinking soul;
And I perish! I perish! dear Master
Oh, hasten, and take control.
Verse 3
Master, the terror is over,
The elements sweetly rest;
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven’s within my breast;
Linger, O blessed Redeemer!
Leave me alone no more;
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,
And rest on the blissful shore.
And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea,
“Hush, be still.”
And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.
Mark 4:39