The winds howl and the floods rise, yet they obey His command who walked upon the sea. He that observes the winds and clouds will not sail, and he that regards the clouds will never cross the mighty deep! But you have cried out in the name of Jesus, and that Name is a strong tower. Our hope is in the finished work of Christ, let us go and reap it, for, if we keep on regarding the winds and the clouds, we shall neither sow nor reap. The tempest is not a sign to cease from prayer, but to deepen it. I grant you that prayer such as that of Elijah can chain the winds and stay the clouds, or unseal the bottles of Heaven and bring down the rain, but it is because the Lord wills it. He holds the winds in His fists, and the flood is His pathway.
Yet, see how the storm itself becomes a teacher. O that they were wise to enter the Ark, to look to Christ so that when the floods rise they might be found safe in Him! And when the floods came the vessel mounted higher, and higher and nearer towards Heaven, the deeper the waters were. So with us, let storms and furious tempests come and our sins assail us, and our sorrows, too, yet we who are weakest are quite as secure as the strongest because we are in Christ, and Christ shall outlive the storm and bear us upwards, nearer and nearer to the Heaven of God. Stout oaks there are that laugh at storms, and elms that will not be twisted with the tempest, but the soul anchored to the Rock of Ages stands unshaken. The sheep that is found is perfectly secure in the Good Shepherd's grip. How honorable it is to be found in such a condition that God's own royal hand has now become our protection!
Therefore, prove that you are not regarding winds and clouds by wisely learning from the clouds another lesson than the one they seem made to teach. We cannot rule the winds, nor create them. The sailor knows that he can neither stop the tempest nor raise it. What then? Does he sit still? By no means! He cries unto Him who rules the raging of the sea. And so I urge you now, lift your heart and voice in that great interjection of holy desire: Come from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe upon these tempests, that they may be calmed! No, not only for the stilling of the gale, but that in the very midst of the roar and the rain, peace may reign within. He who travels on the King's Highway is under the King's protection, but he who takes to byroads must protect himself. You are on the Highway of prayer, and it is paved with promises. This protection is perpetual as well as personal. Without the Spirit of God, the scene were infinitely worse, but with Him, the wind itself cannot blow away the love that has been shed abroad in your heart. Blow, blow, you stormy winds, but you shall not move me! Clouds of fear and floodwaters of trial, come up, as many as you please, till you darken all the sky, but I will not fear you, for He is in the vessel, and He shall outlive the storm.