(1) Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
And, perhaps outer turmoil can result in inner turmoil - yet, we can know that "peace that passes understanding" to which Philippians 4 refers, the "perfect peace" that Isaiah 26 mentions. When the storms are raging, when our lives are tossed about, we can go to the rock of our salvation, who gives us security and confidence. We can go to God and call out to Him, knowing that He does see us and care for us and offers His resources in our desperate times.
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In Mark 4, we find that Jesus and His disciples were heading to a new location, in a ministry snapshot that can remind us that Jesus goes with us; we can read:
35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side."
36 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.
37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.
38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
39 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.
40 But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"
While we are still mindful of the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana and cut a path of destruction even into the Northeast U.S., these storms do seem to yield amazing survivor stories from time to time.
One such story involves Donald Autin, an engineer who works on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, along with his colleagues, who faced the brunt of Hurricane Ida's force. A story from the Louisiana Baptist Message published on The Baptist Paper website relates that Autin's boat and its crew "...survived wind gusts of 172 mph in Port Fourchon as Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana, Aug. 29."
The article quotes Steven Kelly, pastor of Bayou Vista Baptist and director of missions for Gulf Coast Baptist Association, who related the content of a text from Donald's wife, Gina, after the storm:“Just heard from Donald. They are on the tail end of it. They clocked winds at 200 mph. He said to thank you for praying. They had [two] extremely close calls with huge ships breaking free from dry dock and he said the ‘hand of God’ moved them at the last moment and kept their boat from being crushed. He said that boats had sank and flipped. Major damage for sure but they still are unable to see much because of the heavy rains.”As of the article, published originally on August 31, Autin had been on the boat for two weeks. The article says that Donald "is a chief engineer on a supply boat that services oil rigs and handles other marine needs in the Gulf of Mexico." It was unclear at the time when he would be home. Kelly said that Donald “...is a great guy who got saved in his adult years and is a very dedicated believer who loves the Lord.”
The disciples experienced being in a storm with Jesus - they were afraid, and it resulted in their even asking the Savior if he even cared. Fear can twist our minds and undercut our view of God. We need to remain dependent on the Lord in those times when we are tossed about. In this instance, Jesus spoke to the storm and calmed it, but that may not always be the case for us. We may find the storms of our lives will pass, but sometimes they may set in; no matter, we have the presence of God to rely on.
In this instance, Donald related to his wife that they had seen the "hand of God" move to protect them. This can be instructive in reminding us to call attention to where we see evidence of God's hand - we can give Him glory because He is worthy of our praise. When we have experienced Him, we can worship Him for how He has moved and allow Him to use that experience to strengthen us in future storms.
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