"One who has known in storms to sail
I have on board;
Above the raging of the gale
I hear my Lord."
Once again in the same gospel by Mark we read of a tempest coming on while the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee; but this time their Master was not with them in the boat. He had told them to go to the other side while He sent away the crowds of people whom He had been feeding with the five loaves and two fishes—and then He had gone into the hill-country to pray.
The evening came on, the sky growing dark much more quickly than it does in our country, and Jesus had not come to them. Still the disciples rowed, and tried to get their boat to land, and still the storm grew louder.
"Fierce was the wild billow,
Dark was the night,
Oars laboured heavily,
Foam glimmered white."
How they must have longed to hear again that well-known voice rebuking the rough wind, and saying to the angry waves, "Peace, be still!"
But the tired disciples rowed on; and Jesus had not come to them. They did not know what we know, that their Master was watching them; He knew that they could not bring their boat to land, and that they were worn out with toiling at their oars, and were sad at heart too. And so, just at the darkest, coldest hour of that night of fear, the Lord came to His beloved ones. I have seen a picture of the weary men in their tossing boat, and a shining figure which is meant for the Lord Jesus, as He came to them, walking upon the white crests of the waves. But no picture can give a true idea of that wonderful scene.
Do you remember how frightened all in the boat were before they knew that it was the Lord?
They cried out for fear; and in answer to their cry they heard their
Master's own voice talking with them, and saying, "Be of good cheer: it is
I; be not afraid." Ah, what a change was there!
"Sorrow can never be—
Darkness must fly,
When saith the Light of light,
'Peace; it is I.'"
And now, before we come to the end of this "world of water" chapter, listen to a wonderful story of the sea, told by the only one who could tell it—the heroine of the tale.