It is one of my favorite hymns and its words are ones I know my own heart has sung a time or two. I love the dark harsher melody when the storm rages and the soul cries out "Lord, help me" and then the sweet melody of relief and peace that follow.
I hate the question "if there was a God, why does he let bad things happen" or "...he wouldn't let bad things happen", as though the question and statement is verifiable proof that He does not exist.
I hate it, not because there is no answer, but because it is impossible to convey those reasons if one has not felt the peace and deliverance of the spirit during and after times of pain, struggle, or sorrow.
It is erroneous to think that because you believe in God it means you're safe from experiencing the harsh realities of life.
Life can be hard. Life without knowing God is even harder.
One of the purposes of life is to be happy.
How I wish we sang this more.
"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?
It is erroneous to think that because you believe in God it means you're safe from experiencing the harsh realities of life.
Life can be hard. Life without knowing God is even harder.
One of the purposes of life is to be happy.
"Men are that they might have joy" 2 Ne 2 vs 25How would one know true joy without the deepest sorrow? Love without hate? Right without wrong?
"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad." 2 Ne 2 vs 11Having faith provides us with a brightness of hope and sharpens our focus on the light ahead so that we do not drown in the darkness that threatens to consume us when those bad times inevitably come.
How I wish we sang this more.
"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!
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.
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!
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.
Master, the terror is over.
The elements sweetly rest.
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven’s within my breast.
Linger, O blessed Redeemer!
Leave me alone no more,
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor
And rest on the blissful shore."
Text: Mary Ann Baker, ca. 1874
They all shall sweetly obey thy will:
Peace, peace, be still.
Master, the terror is over.
The elements sweetly rest.
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven’s within my breast.
Linger, O blessed Redeemer!
Leave me alone no more,
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor
And rest on the blissful shore."
Text: Mary Ann Baker, ca. 1874
