Finding Peace in Life's Storms
It is such a long time ago, but I remember the experience as if it happened yesterday. I was only 7 at the time, but our family was part of that great post-war exodus of European immigrants to Australia. It was the time when passenger ships ruled the seas, and we caught ours in Genoa Italy. I recall two things about that journey. The first was going through the Suez Canal - the heat, and the people coming alongside in their boats to sell us their goods; and the second - going through a severe cyclone off the coast of Western Australia. And by severe, I mean severe!
As we approached the cyclone (or was it the cyclone approaching us?) all the windows in our cabin were covered with a steel protection latch, and fastened tight with a spanner. If you were claustrophobic, well just too bad. We were ordered by the Captain not to leave our cabins - well that wasn't too hard to comply with, because most were in their beds trying not to get sick!!!!
But the movement of the ship was incredible, if not frightening. She would dip right down and then in climbing the huge waves, almost end up perpendicular. And the ship would roll from side to side as well. Eventually the cyclone left us, but the seas continued to be very rough. I recall going on deck with my father- he holding tightly onto the rails and I tightly onto my father, and the rocking of the ship was such, that while standing at the back of the ship, we could see the huge screw (propeller) rising out of the water, and then plunging below the surface again, as the ship responded to the huge powerful waves all about - the aftermath of the cyclone.
Looking back to that storm-tossed sea, I am reminded of what goes on inside so many of us. In Isaiah 57: 20 - 21 we read the following: "The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. 'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked.'" Now when God talks about the "wicked", we think of people who do some really evil things. But God's talking about anyone who has violated His laws, His commandments; anyone who's lived their life their own way rather than the Lord's way.
And the sad part is that, even as a Christian, you can stray. The pull of the world becomes such, that Christ is pushed into the background, and you again endeavour to find your joy and peace and satisfaction in the things of the world - whether it is a wrong relationship, money, study, possessions, relaxation, work, drugs, self-pity, travel, family ...... It can become so serious that you can hardly recognize yourself as a Christian. Worship, the study of God's Word, prayer, fellowship - all of these are neglected.
The result? Well as with those who as yet do not believe, your heart is like that storm-tossed sea; constant turbulence inside, constant upheaval round about. Yes, there is "...no peace". In all your experiences, accomplishments and relationships, those words describe the feeling in your soul so much of the time - "no peace". Forever restless, never satisfied, always searching, and sometimes like the ocean, even destructive.
A few chapters earlier, Isaiah explained why you can't find any lasting peace. He said, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). You've moved away from the God who made you, and the God you were made for. And there's no peace there. Your soul is missing the only One who can remove the things that keep that sea in your soul so turbulent; your guilt over the mistakes you've made, your regrets over things you never should have done, the restless searching for what will give life real meaning, the uneasiness about what's going to happen to you when you die.
But in the same verse that says we have moved away from God, we find the good news of what God has done so we can get back to Him. It says, speaking of Jesus Christ, "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." God loves you so much that He took all the sin of your life and placed it on His Son on the cross, where He died to pay your death penalty so you can find peace in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and finally then have peace in your soul. If Christ has loved us so much, let us respond to His love, by willing and loving obedience.
When Jesus was here on this earth, He was in a boat with His disciples in the middle of a violent storm that threatened to sink them. He went to the bow of the boat and He said, "Peace be still," and the storm stopped. That's what He wants to do with the storm in your heart. If you'll reach out to Him and say, "Jesus, You're my only hope. Beginning today, I want to turn away from my sin. I want to trust You alone as the One who died so I can be forgiven, so I can be in heaven with You some day."
Ultimately, peace is the work of a person, and that person's name is Jesus. He's waiting right now to speak His "Peace, be still" to the turbulence in your soul. Always love Christ first & foremost. Grace and PEACE.....