Taking Refuge in Thy Calm Haven

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Tim. 1:7)


Fear is a natural instinct. Without fear we wouldn't know enough to stay away from things and situations that pose a potential danger to us, such as a raging fire or a powerful storm. But fear, like everything else that comes natural to us, is often distorted by the Devil and used to draw us away from God.

None of us are without our worries and fears in life. Even the smallest of these is sinful in that it demonstrates a lack of faith in God, who has specifically commanded us not to be concerned with the cares of this world. Yet, not only do we continue to fear, but quite often we allow those fears to become so prevalent that they consume our every thought. We worry about our health, our jobs, our family, and just about everything else. Fear becomes the focus of our lives, directing and controlling our feelings and actions.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that after Jesus had fed the five thousand, He instructed His disciples to enter a ship on the Sea of Galilee while He went alone to pray into the night hours. In ancient Israel, the night was divided into four "watches", and it was during the fourth and final watch when the ship encountered a terrible storm. As the disciples awake, they see Jesus walking towards them on the water, and were immediately struck with fear. But when Peter recognizes that it is the Lord, he asks that he be allowed to draw near to Him, and Jesus commands him to do so. As Peter begins to walk on the water, he soon realizes that the winds are fierce and begins to sink. Peter cries out to his Lord in fear, Christ takes him by the hand, and the winds cease. Peter, of course, received a chastising from Jesus for his lack of faith.

Note that the storm occurs in the fourth watch, just before dawn, when the night was at its darkest point. Peter sees his Lord and is comforted, but the moment he takes his eyes off of Him and focuses upon the storm, he begins to sink. If only we could learn to keep our hearts and minds focused upon God, we would never pay attention to the storms of this life, and we would never be afraid!

In the canon of the Orthodox funeral service we sing: Beholding the sea of life, surging with the storm of temptations, and taking refuge in Thy calm haven I cry unto Thee: raise up my life from corruption, O greatly Merciful One. In life, we are beset with the continuous temptations of anxiety and worry, thrust upon us by the Evil One, who would like nothing better than to have us turn our focus away from God and toward our own worldly cares. The one sure remedy for stress and anxiety is to heed the words which the Lord has given us: Be still, and know that I Am God (Ps. 46:10).

Children of Light

In creating this blog, one of the first questions that came to mind was simply this - what exactly was I going to write about? After some contemplation and prayer, I came to the conclusion that it would be beneficial to create a forum with the aim of reconciling the challenges of living an Orthodox life while also living within modern American society. Let's face it, the two are at odds with each other. Not much of what we're exposed to on a daily basis is consistent with Christianity, let alone Orthodox Christianity.

The title I chose comes from the Gospel of John, or to be more precise, from the passage we read at Divine Liturgy on Pascha: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (1:4-5). Each of us is called to be a partaker of the Divine Nature by means of receiving this light, but more often than not, man rejects the light in favor of the darkness of sin.

Once, I took a tour of Sonoma Caverns, a national landmark in Texas. As we descended into the cave, I was awe struck at the beauty of the rock formations, including a perfect replica of a butterfly carved out of the crystal by the hand of God. The glorious handiwork of God's creation surrounded me, and it was as if I had been transported into a preview of the Heavenly realm. As we reached the bottom, our tour guide told us that he was going to turn off the lights in order that we might experience total darkness. For, as he explained, when you are above ground there is always some source of light - the sun, moon, stars, or some type of artificial light - but since we were now so far underground, no light would be able to penetrate. For just a few moments, we experienced total, complete darkness - and needless to say, it was quite a contrast.

Darkness is simply the absence of light, just as evil is the absence of good. It's our choice - do we want to walk as children of light (Eph. 5:8) or to love darkness and reject the light that is come into the world? The fact that we live in a world full of sorrows is precisely because man preferred the darkness - but this isn't what God intended for man, neither is it what He wants for us to continue.

In the coming months, I hope to post items which will look at Orthodoxy from a perspective of everyday life. My prayer is that those who read this blog will be edified by it. Please remember me, brothers and sisters, as I am a fellow struggler on the path of life, a path which I pray will lead us all to our Heavenly Homeland.