“And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but He was asleep”— Matthew 8:23, 24.
TO the natural eye, conditions had become very critical. But the Lord Jesus Christ slept in peace as the storm raged. Was the raising of the storm that evening on the Sea of Galilee simply a natural phenomenon, or was it of definite Satanic origin? It would seem that it was an effort on the part of the Adversary to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ before He could fulfill the mission on which He came to earth. But just as when the people of Nazareth tried to shove Him over the cliff and kill Him, but were unable to effect their purpose (Luke 4:28, 29), so, in this instance, Satan was again foiled. He had no power to take the life of the Son of God. That life could only be laid down voluntarily by Christ Himself in accordance with the Father’s will (John 10:17, 18).
“Who made Orion and the Pleiades,
And measured heaven in his mighty hand,
Still calls the waters from the ample seas
And pours them out upon the thirsty land.
Above the warring earth God sits enthroned;
From calm eternity He orders what is best:
Within the tumult man may hear intoned
His peaceful words: ‘Come unto Me and rest.’
Oh heart and arteries and veins and tongue,
The hands and feet, the senses and the mind,
Join in the sweetest anthem ever sung,
Which Christ upon the angry waves designed;
For He who calmed the sea with. ‘Peace, be still!’
Controls all things according to His will.”
—Nicholas Lloyd Ingraham.