How readily the mind is swept away by the terror of rising waters. The senses see only the flood coming into the house, the memory of the water already receded and now returning, the reports of rivers brimming full. Yet this is precisely the moment to exercise that vigorous and generous soul which rises above all things of sense and passes beyond the weakness of human reasonings. For what are these waters but that which obeys the word of God? Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. He who spoke the raging deep into its boundaries still commands the rain and the river. Your fear is natural to the flesh; but let faith sit in judgment over the soul’s trembling.
Consider that very sign which our Lord gave concerning the days of Noah. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the flood came and took them all away. Did the ark float upon the waters by human calculation? No, it was upheld by the word of God. Those who perished were not destroyed because the waters were strong, but because their insensibility was complete, living in luxury amid the coming judgment. Do not let the heart be water-logged by terror as the body can be by luxury. When the flood-wave of fear rushes in, the mind’s bolts and joints give way. Hold fast instead to what is certain. The Lord who sent the prophets, who purchased the Church with His own blood, who has adorned you with that same blood, does not now forget the habitation where His name is called upon.
You ask for safety for your home. Ask also, and more urgently, that your soul find its shelter where no flood can reach. That fountain which sprang from the Master’s side still sends forth rivers spiritual, and by it stand the Powers on high. They who share this blood are already clothed with the King Himself. What can water do to one robed in Christ? If the earthly dwelling suffers loss, it is not the man himself. The man is the soul, the same soul that looks upon the same sun, called to the same heaven. If earthly goods be lost, God has given freely far greater gifts while you were yet idle and undeserving. Shall He not provide refuge now?
Let this fear become the travail which brings forth compunction. Cry aloud in faith, not like one merely begging off the storm, but as one who knows that even a command is enough for deliverance. The Lord who stilled the waves with a word, who entered Jerusalem in meekness and will come again in glory, is not indifferent to your affliction. Yet His first care is to open your mind. Do not seek only that the water abate, but that your heart be lifted where Christ is seated. If the worst befalls the house, you still have an altar not made with hands. If the floods recede and the sun returns, let gratitude build a stronger sanctuary within than any timber could raise.
Therefore, pray thus: that whether the storm withdraws or remains, you may be found leaping as a calf set free from bonds, not merely from danger but from the tyranny of worldly dread. For the true flood is the torrent of sins, and the true ark is the Church, whose mysteries are awful and saving. Stand within that shelter, and let the waters do as they are commanded. He who spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, shall He not with Him freely give us all things necessary? The rivers obey His voice. The heart that trusts in Him shall not be drowned.