“The Waters Will Be Pacified, And Christ Will Command The Wave.”
(SH 570 : 21.)
“From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:2, the prayer of David, who, far from home, was tempted to feel unsafe from enemies within and without.)
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, was faced with multiple crises occurring simultaneously. In his famous soliloquy, Hamlet expresses indecision whether “to take arms against a sea of troubles” or simply give up. Alexander Pope likened this sea of troubles to flood-waters besieging the walls of a city.
At the climax of the exodus from Egypt, Moses had to face 3 major problems occurring all at once: 1.) the army of Pharaoh pursuing him, 2.) the defenseless, terrified people violently protesting against Moses, doubting and denouncing his whole exit plan, and 3.) the presence of the Red Sea stopping their flight.
Against all such discord and instability, God remains immovable, more unchangeable than a tuning fork that maintains its pitch every moment, day by day.
From the human standpoint (which Is sinking sand), Moses could not possibly take up arms against the sea of compound troubles threatening him from every direction. But, placing his trust in the “Rock [substance] that is higher than” himself — something more concrete than the most dense of material solids — he was able to stand on infinitely higher ground, infinitely more substantial than the convulsive, rancorous waters clamoring for his attention, tempting him to take his eyes off God and thereby fail in his mission.
Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock,
Upon Life’s shore,
‘Gainst which the winds and waves can shock,
Oh, nevermore!
(Mary Baker Eddy, Hymn 254)
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6.) Thus shall Christian Scientists becalm the tempestuous waters spewed forth from the mouth of the illusory, thrashing serpent of mortal mind and transform them into a sea of glass, mirroring the eternal stability of the substance of Spirit.