Opening Prayer
Lord, take us with You, and let us always abide with You. Amen.
Text: Matthew 8:23-27
Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Devotion
The disciples around the Lord Christ are the Christian Church. It is exposed to storm and danger. The devil with his whole host rages against it, for Jesus will destroy the devil’s kingdom. By His Means of Grace, which His Church administers and uses, He rescues souls from the prince of darkness and lays waste his kingdom. So the wicked foe stirs up the sea of people and tries to bury the Church under its waves. How pitifully it has raged so many times against God’s people! They have been persecuted with fire and sword, and the powerful of the world have firmly resolved to wipe out the “Nazarene sect” from the earth. The devil has devised heretical doctrines with which he deceived people, so they believed they were serving God when they shed the blood of His saints. It seems even more dangerous for the Church in our day, in that powerful minds conspire to bury it in a deep and certain grave under the rebel masses. Philosophy, science, literature, news media continually publish the thoughts of unbelief into people’s hearts, so that Christian people are really like a sea which is stirred from the bottom up and runs high in waves of atheism, materialism, liberalism, socialism. And the Church no longer seems to be able to weather the storms, but that it must surely be filled with unbelief and sink. And yet this is nothing new. Already in the earliest days of the Church the devil thought he could crush it through the attacks of scholars and by intermingling powerful heresies with the pure Word of God.
In reality there is no danger that the Church shall perish. But there is danger for each individual believer, that the temptation of unbelief could snatch him away. The ship of the Church will always emerge unscathed out of the angry waves and sail its true course, for Jesus is on board. But let each one of us watch and pray that we shall not fall away in the time of temptation. Stay with the Lord, O abide with Him. Accept His correction for the frailty of your faith. Hear His Word, which rescues you, and the Word shall calm your restless heart. Then you shall be strengthened, and your eye shall see God’s glory. Faithfully use the Church’s Means of Grace, and you will remain in the ship with the Lord. Be perfectly assured that the almighty Lord Jesus shall save the meek and the faithful, who receive His chastisement for their unbelief and who cling to Him in all their need, while those who sleep and are self-righteous and foolhardy shall be washed away by the waves.
Closing Prayer
Faithful Lord Jesus, keep us steadfast in faith to the end. Let none of us leave land without You. And when danger comes, let us find refuge and salvation with You. “Make faith brave against the waves of terror. Hold us by rudder and anchor. You know what I can do.”
Devotion
The danger is but minor,
Though you may think it more;
Our Lord keeps watch forever,
Our Helmsman evermore;
He is asleep, you think,
But now begins His speaking,
The winds and waves rebuking,
Thank God, away they sink!
God, when the Ark we’re spying
Upon the waves so wide,
And when Your friends are sighing,
Trembling with fear inside,
O then our faith increase,
And help us to be coping,
Assure us in our hoping;
God, help us find true peace.
Landstad: Godt Haab i gode Kristne L 221:4.6 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Aus meines Herzens Grunde (ELH 79);alternate hymn: Abide with me ELH 561:7