21 Aug: He Stills the Storm
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Psalm 107:29
Scripture Reading: Psalm 107:1–3, 23–32
In 1830, the Scottish missionary Alexander Duff set out on his first voyage to India—and never made it there in one piece. His ship wrecked in a storm off the coast of South Africa, and he and the other passengers washed up on a barren little island with nothing. Not long after, someone in the crew spotted a Bible floating in the surf. It turned out to be Duff’s own copy. Once it dried out enough to read, he opened it to Psalm 107 and read it aloud to the other survivors. It gave them the strength to keep going. Duff eventually got rescued, survived a second shipwreck on top of that, and finally reached India.
Psalm 107 walks through several different times God rescued the Israelites, and it’s easy to see why those words meant so much to Duff and his shipmates: “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven“ (verses 29–30). And just like the Israelites before them, they had every reason to “praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (verse 31).
That same scene shows up again later, in the Gospels. Matthew 8:23–27 and Mark 4:35–41 tell of Jesus and His disciples caught in a boat during a fierce storm. The disciples panicked. Jesus, who is God himself in human form, spoke to the wind and waves and brought them to a stop.
That’s the God we belong to as well. He hears us when we call out, and He meets us right in the middle of whatever storm we’re facing.
By: Grace Adler
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Reflect & Pray
When have you cried out to God in a “storm”? What was the result?
Thank You, God, for not leaving me to face the storms on my own. I need You!