“Take it steady!” I called out, “Whooops! That was a big one!”
We had been out fishing and although the day wasn’t all that good, we hadn’t expected the wind to get up as soon as it had. By the time we had been fishing for a short time, we could see white horses (tops of the waves breaking) rollicking down mid stream past the point we were anchored behind.
We decided we had better give up the idea of catching any fish, and head back across the inlet to the boat ramp. Our boat was a small runabout which didn’t take too kindly to these sort of conditions, and we had to navigate carefully across the rough waters watching the breaking wave tops as we went. At last we were nearing the point with the quieter waters behind it. What a relief it was to leave the white water behind us and have a smooth run back to the bay we had left a short while before!
Once in the bay, it was so calm it was hard to believe that the conditions were so different around the point. There are many times as we go through life that we have experiences like this. Sometimes we find ourselves in turbulent waters through our own fault. We may not have looked far enough ahead as to where our actions were leading us until we found ourselves in over our heads as it were. Or perhaps, as we had found this particular day, circumstances built up around us before we had time to get ourselves back in clear waters. But with careful handling it is possible to get to calmer waters once more.
We read in our newspapers of so many who don’t make it back safely, and they become another statistic with grieving families left behind.
Then again we read the story in the Bible of the followers of Jesus who He had told to go across the lake. He went with them, but being tired, He lay on the seat in the stern of the boat and went to sleep. The wind got up with violent seas, and they had a job to keep the boat afloat. They woke Him up in the end, saying they were about to sink. He stood up and cried out to the wind to stop blowing and it suddenly became calm….not just the shrieking of the wind stopping but the violence of the waves as well. This made them more afraid even, than they had been in the storm.
“Who is this Man?” they asked each other, “How is it that He can do these things?”
He just looked at them and quietly said, “Where is your faith?”
It is like this for us. Circumstances seem about to swamp us and overflow into our “boat”. There seems to be no help for us anywhere. Remember, if we know Jesus Christ as our Lord, we always have One with us in our boat Who can calm our storms. We just have to call on Him in faith, do what we can, and leave the rest to Him. Even if the storm doesn’t immediately calm down, we can experience His peace as we commit everything to Him.
If we do not know Him personally, all we have to do is to cry out to Him, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” and that is the sweetest cry He can hear which He will never refuse. We are told that God will not despise a broken and contrite heart.