He Who Stills the Storm

Charles Spurgeon asks: Living in peace, do not the saints fall asleep in the arms of victory?

One would hope so. How does one find this life of peace? Psalm 107 describes the life I am more familiar with. Continual struggle and trial, rebellion, sin, despair, calling to God, and His rescue...only to have the pattern continue over and over again.

Psalm 107 has the same refrain repeated four times:
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble
And He saved them from their distress.

You would think they would learn!


It is probably safe to say there will be no peace on earth. So living in peace cannot be based on external events. It must be an internal phenomenon. I wish I could capture the key, and unlock the secret for you. I can't. I want to live in peace, but at this point, it eludes me.

Psalm 107 gives a clue. Life is described with the metaphor of a ship mercilessly tossed in a storm by stupendous waves, that reach to the heavens, and to the depths of the earth. I don't know about you, but that picture resonates with me. There are periods where I feel like I am scraping my fingernails on the very vault of heaven. There are also periods  where I feel the fire of Hell licking at my soles. They often vacillate as rapidly as waves crest to crest.

But then, the psalmist's despair suddenly shifts:
He stilled the storm to a whisper.
The waves of the sea were hushed.
They were glad when it grew calm
And He guided them to their desired haven.

Peace is not in my power, but in the power of God. He stills and hushes the storm, He calms the water, and He guides us to the place where we find rest. To find peace, we must find God. The hard part is He may not still the storm for a very long time, and maybe not at all this side of Heaven. The peace comes not from the fact that He stills the storm, but that He can.