Calm in the storm

The grey naval vessel plunged up and down in the huge waves. The storm had been raging for hours; making life uncomfortable on the Australian naval vessel. The Naval Chaplain became interested in a group of sailors pointing to an object floating on one of the huge waves.

 

 'What was it?' It was white and it did not appear to be a piece of driftwood. It was difficult to make out the shape. The pounding rain hampered their vision of the object. The ship's course brought them slowly closer. Using binoculars, the sailors gradually made out a white, limp mass being tossed about in the waves.

 As the ship drew closer it began to dawn on them that the object was a large bird. It was a large white albatross! It was not dead! Instead of trying to fight the fury of the storm, it had bypassed its natural instinct to try and fly away and it had simply landed on the water and floated on top until the storm abated. Even though it was being tossed about in the huge seas, it did not waste its energies trying to fight the storm. The albatross was calm in the storm and waited for the storm to pass. It just went up and down with the waves; but the waves did not defeat it. It used the waves as a safe haven.

 What a lesson for you and me. How often do we fight against the circumstances in our lives? How often do we try repeatedly to fix the problems even when the solutions are beyond our control? How often do we place a problem in the Lord's hands; and then decide to tell the Lord how to fix the problem? Why bother Him in the first place? Often He does not deliver us out of the problem; instead He will see us safely through the problem.

 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation [trial or testing] has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."  Some trials are long and grievous. Our faith is tested at these times.

 I have often been encouraged by an incident I heard of a brother in Christ back in the Great Depression in the 1930's on a farm in western New South Wales, Australia. The situation for him and his family was bleak. His farm was going bankrupt; he had no money and little food. It looked like he would have to pack up his family and leave their farm as he could not afford to keep it. Even though he was a stout believer in Christ the situation looked hopeless.

 Then one day shortly after his telephone rang. He picked it up to answer it; instead a confident male voice said "Ebenezer 7" The man had given him his own telephone number instead of checking that the number he was calling was correct. The farmer was startled by this name and number. He recalled the incident in 1 Samuel chapter 7 where God using the prophet Samuel helped Israel win a major victory over the Philistines.

 1 Samuel 7:4-13, "4 So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.5 And Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you."6 So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.7 Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.8 So the children of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines." 9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.10 Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel.11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car.12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us." 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel."

 Ebenezer literally means 'The stone of help'. As the farmer remembered this he took heart and strengthened his faith in God. The number 7 was significant for him as well; because the number 7 means complete, perfect or mature in Scripture. The outcome for this farmer was that the Lord did indeed help him through his trials and his future financial outcome was good. What the man actually rang the farmer for I did not get to hear about. The great encouragement that the farmer got from the two words 'Ebenezer 7' was the crux of this incident.

 When the farmer, like the albatross, gave up trying to get out of a situation beyond his control he was strengthened in his faith and had calmness in his soul. The circumstances did not defeat him. Neither did the albatross let its circumstances defeat it. The Lord Jesus spoke to the wind and waves in Mark 4:39; "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." The presence and power of the Lord Jesus Christ can change any circumstance.

 

Jon Peasey

Biblical Perspectives blog www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com

Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey

 [All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted. Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted for clarity. Words in bold type emphasise a point. You may notice some verses are quoted with ... at the beginning, ending or elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or parts of the verse, that relate directly to the current subject matter is quoted.]

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