"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid."--Mark vi. 50.
The Great Calm.
"It is I," (or as our old version has it, more in accordance with the
original), "I AM! be not afraid!" Jesus lives! His people may dispel
their misgivings--Omnipotence treads the waves! To sense it may seem at
times to be otherwise; wayward accident and chance may appear to
regulate human allotments; but not so: "The Lord's voice is upon the
waters,"--He sits at the helm guiding the tempest-tossed bark, and
guiding it well.
How often does He come to us as He did to the disciples in that midnight
hour when all seems lost--"in the fourth watch of the night,"--when we
least looked for Him; or when, like the shipwrecked apostle, "for days
together neither sun nor stars appeared, and no small tempest lay on
us; when all hope that we should be saved seemed to be taken away,"--how
often _just at that moment_, is the "word of Jesus" heard floating over
the billows!
Believer, art thou in trouble? listen to the voice in the storm, "Fear
not, _I_ AM." That voice, like Joseph's of old to his brethren, may
_seem_ rough, but there are gracious undertones of love. "It is I," he
seems to say; It _was_ I, that roused the storm; It is I, who when it
has done its work, will calm it, and say, "Peace, be still." Every wave
rolls at My bidding--every trial is My appointment--all have some
gracious end; they are not sent to dash you against the sunken rocks,
but to waft you nearer heaven. Is it _sickness_? I am He who bare your
sickness; the weary wasted frame, and the nights of languishing, were
sent by Me. Is it _bereavement_? I am "the Brother" born for
adversity--the loved and lost were plucked away by Me. Is it _death_? I
AM the "Abolisher of death," seated by your side to calm the waves of
ebbing life; it is _I_, about to fetch My pilgrims _home_--It is My
voice that speaks, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee."
Reader, thou wilt have reason yet to praise thy God for every one such
storm! This is the history of every heavenly voyager: "_So_ He bringeth
them to their desired haven." "_So!_" That word, in all its unknown and
diversified meaning, is in _His_ hand. He suits His dealings to every
case. "_So!_" With some it is through quiet seas unfretted by one
buffeting wave. "_So!_" With others it is "mounting up to heaven, and
going down again to the deep." But whatever be the leading and the
discipline, here is the grand consummation, "_So_ He bringeth them unto
their desired haven." It might have been with thee the moanings of an
eternal night-blast--no lull or pause in the storm; but soon the
darkness will be past, and the hues of morn tipping the shores of glory!
And what, then, should your attitude be? "Looking unto Jesus"
(literally, looking _from unto_); looking away from self, and sin, and
human props and refuges and confidences, and fixing the eye of
unwavering and unflinching faith on a reigning Saviour. Ah, how a real
quickening sight of Christ dispels all guilty fears! The Roman keepers
of old were affrighted, and became as dead men. The lowly Jewish women
feared not; why? "_I know that ye seek Jesus!_" Reader, let thy weary
spirit fold itself to rest under the composing "word" of a gracious
Saviour, saying----
"I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT, AND IN _HIS WORD_ DO I
HOPE."