As I was looking up a scripture verse earlier this a.m. regarding ships, I naturally turned to Psalm 107 and in the 23rd and 24th verses it talks about "those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, They see the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep."
I live in a seaport on Canada's east coast and we get a lot of cruise ships at this time of year, in fact it is growing more popular each year and Judy and I enjoy the odd cruise vacation as well. Reading further along in Psalm 107, it declares "For He commands and raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, They go down again to the depths; Their soul melts because of trouble." I'm beginning to turn a little green right about now as I recall some of those cruise vacations when I was confined to my quarters as the ship "reeled to and fro and staggered like a drunken man" (read verses 25-27) I recall one trip in particular in the Caribbean...that part wasn't a lot of fun.
Sometimes our lives can be like that, "reeling to and fro...staggering like a drunken man (out of control). Just two weeks ago we were in Gloucester, Mass. where they have that statue of "the old man of the sea" facing out towards the sea, and another of a wife with her two children also looking out to the sea and wondering what has happened to her husband...will he make it back?
As I pondered these words this morning of the Psalmist, my mind went to a portion of scripture found in the gospel of Mark vs.35 through 41, "On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Master do you not care that we are perishing?" Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, " Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
As I pondered these words this morning of the Psalmist, my mind went to a portion of scripture found in the gospel of Mark vs.35 through 41, "On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Master do you not care that we are perishing?" Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, " Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
Isn't this a picture of life? Sometimes the Lord sends us out and He is with us but it seems like we are all alone. However He is still with us and there are "others" with us as well. Mark tells us there were "other" little ships(KJV) also that were in the sea that night ... they were toiling in rowing also ... they were with Him. You are not alone in your struggles ... realize that there are others with you and they are in the storm also but Jesus was in the boat with them and it wasn't just the disciples whom He was with that received the calming of the storm that night but it was these other little ships too. We are not alone, we have the family of God and greatest of all ... Jesus is in the boat with us.You can depend on Him and you need to be with the family.
posted by Randall | 9:01 a.m.
2 Comments:
Hi Randall
The Lord commands the stormy sea.
The sea of life has it storms,our
own or the life of someone we love.When our family or good friends are going through a storm
the ripple effect touches us too.
We to can loss sigth of the fact that Jesus is always there for them and us too.It is in these times of the storms that we can grow in our faith if we remember that He is more than able to get us through and it is His desire to do so.
Give Him your storm and He will give you his peace.
C.M.
Rough waters calm waters no difference to Jesus he is there and on that we can count. Jesus doesn’t disappear when things start to go wrong so that we will have a chance to fix things ourselves but he won’t step in until we ask him to because he doesn’t push himself on us .
We must stay alert and keep a watchful eye on our lives for things can change so fast that we don’t notice how rough they really are until it is to late and our boat is about ready to sink, it is at this point that only Jesus can calm these troubled waters .
I know that when things look so bad that it looks like there is no way out that we find ourselves mad at God for letting things happen but he didn’t I did but even though it is my storm if I ask he will calm it .He is the master of the wind and I am so glad aren’t you.
Coffee
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