It is impossible to imagine what some of the song writers would do if they were shut off from likening the Christian life to a voyage upon the ocean, and the Christian to a man in a boat tossed by the waves, and buffeted by the winds. But if they had a strict regard for Scripture imagery, they would be forced to forego such illustrations.
The Bible does refer to the sea, but not as affecting the Christian.
Isaiah 57
20 The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
It speaks also of the man who does not have faith in God, but who wavers.
James 1
6 He that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
But surely, such a man receives nothing from the Lord.
When a ship is in the sea, it must of necessity be more or less at the mercy of the winds and the tide. Perhaps this is the reason why so many who have accepted the idea of the “Gospel ship” as scriptural, have supposed that instability is a necessary part of Christian experience. They expect to be up and down, according to the state of the tide.
But what says the Scripture? The Christian is not on the restless waves, but on the solid rock. The Lord…
Psalm 40
2 …brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
Walking upon a rock is vastly different from being rocked in a boat.
The wind and the waves have no effect upon the rocks. The tide rises and falls, but the rock remains unchanged. The fierce waves beat against it with a thundering sound, but it moves not. It does not even tremble. Therefore he who is upon the solid rock can not be affected by the ebb and flow of the tide, nor by wind or weather. Jesus said,
Matthew 7
24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock;
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.
Jesus Christ is the everlasting Rock.
Psalm 92
15 He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
His word is the same as Himself.
Psalm 119
89 For ever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
Psalm 111
7 The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
John 6
63 …they are Spirit and they are life,
–even His own eternal life. Reader, where are you? Are you floating upon the sea? or are you established upon the Rock?
