When the Storm Passes

Labadee Village, Haiti

“When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”

Theses words, taken from the hymn The Solid Rock  came to mind this morning as I was reading Psalm 54. The psalm was written during a period of David’s life when he was being pursued by King Saul. His life was in danger. There were people willing to betray him. It seemed that there was no safe harbour, no peace, no rest.

David begins with a plea for help: “Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might” (54:1),

Our first port of call on a recent Caribbean vacation was Grand Cayman. I confess that I was surprised and a bit disappointed at my first look at the island as we made landfall. It is basically similar to a sand spit—not a hill in sight anywhere. As we toured the island our guide mentioned that much of Cayman had been flattened during Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and was still in the rebuilding process.

Two days later we landed on the northern coast of Haiti. On a boat tour there, our guide pointed out his village, nestled at the bottom of the mountains and perched on the edge of the sea. The guide mentioned that the village had never suffered from major damage from a hurricane because it was protected by the mountain behind it.

In Psalm 54:4 David writes: “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” As I meditated on the psalm I thought about the hymn and about the difference between the islands that we had visited. When the storms of life threaten and the blackness of evil, whatever its source, seem to hide any evidence of God’s presence, like the writer of the hymn and like David, we rest on the assurance that no matter how strong the winds or fierce the enemies we have a safe refuge. Like the village at the foot of the mountain we are safe. Unlike an unprotected sandy land form, we are not left at the mercy of forces that seem stronger than we are.

Our Rock, our Lord, is our help. And He will sustain us.

The psalmist ends by saying: “I will praise you name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.”

When the storm passes, when the darkness fades, we will see just how good He has been.