July 20. Peace in Storm

"Then He got into the boat with them — and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded!" Mark 6:51 When Jesus comes to us — our trouble ceases. At His bidding — the wildest storm instantly becomes a calm. The trouble itself may not go away from us — but it is no longer a trouble, when He is with us. The wind may not cease to blow and beat upon our lives — but He makes peace within. It is far better to have so much grace — that our hearts shall be calm and quiet in the fiercest storm — than to have the storm itself quieted, while our hearts remain as restless as ever. Peace within is far better than any mere calm without. In a gallery in Italy, there are two pictures side by side by different artists. One represents a sea tossed by storms. Dark clouds hang over it, and the lightning-bolts pierce the sky, and the angry waves roll in great fury. In the seething waters, a dead human face is seen. The other picture presents a sea similarly storm-tossed; but in the midst of the angry waters is a rock, and in the rock a cleft with green herbage and flowers, and amid these — a dove quietly sitting on her nest. These two pictures tell the whole story of human life in this world. The first is the story of life without Christ, unblessed by His presence and peace. There is storm everywhere — with no quiet shelter. The other picture paints the peace which Christ gives. There is no less storm. The waves roll as high — but there is peace. The rock represents Christ; it is in the cleft of the rock that the peace is found. It is only in the redemption and atonement of Christ — that we can have true and lasting peace. "In Me, you shall have peace." If, therefore, we take Christ into our barques on the storm-swept sea — we shall glide on in safety through earth\