Master, the Tempest Is Raging

On Friday night we went to the concert in the Assembly Hall.  Why? Well, because Latter Day Voices from the Logan Institute was performing.  Our daughter Ashley accompanies for the choir, and she was also doing a piano solo.  The songs they performed were either new songs or arrangements that have been submitted to the church.  There were some absolutely beautiful songs, that brought tears to my eyes, and this choir is amazing.  Beautiful sounding, but they sing with so much spirit and power.  What a wonderful experience it has been for Ashley to participate, but I digress.  The piano solo that Ashley played was an arrangement of Master, the Tempest Is Raging.  The arrangement was beautiful, and of course she did a magnificent job (and I am not too proud or anything), but I didn't think too much about it-until today.

As we talked about families today in church, I thought about the past year we have had.  Times when I have felt like Satan was waging a full scale war on just our little family.  Times when it felt like we might be losing the battle, that there was just too much for me to handle.  That I couldn't be strong enough.  Then I thought about all the blessings that we have received.  I thought about how I was so worried, but through it all Heavenly Father was right there fighting with us and always will be.  Then somehow the words to the song that Ashley played came into my mind...

Master, the tempest is raging!

The billows are tossing high!

The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness.

No shelter or help is nigh.

Carest thou not that we perish?

How canst thou lie asleep

When each moment so madly is threat'ning

A grave in the angry deep?

Master, with anguish of spirit

I bow in my grief today.

The depths of my sad heart are troubled.

Oh, waken and save, I pray!

Torrents of sin and of anguish

Sweep o'er my sinking soul,

And I perish! I perish! dear Master.

Oh, hasten and take control!

Doesn't that just describe life?  Sure we have momentary calm, but it seems that there are troubled waters all about us, threatening to overcome us.  We might even cry out, I can't do this!  I am sinking in this whirlpool of life!  But then if we are listening we hear the calm reassurance of Peace, Be Still.

The winds and the waves shall obey thy will:

Peace, be still.

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea

Or demons or men or whatever it be,

No waters can swallow the ship where lies

The Master of ocean and earth and skies.

They all shall sweetly obey thy will:

Peace, be still; peace, be still.

They all shall sweetly obey thy will:

Peace, peace, be still.

We aren't left to navigate these troubled waters alone. And if God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) The Lord is in charge, and because of that, I can have and do have peace.