Disturb Us

I stumbled accross this today. It intrigued me as I read so that I read with increasing attention and interest, fully expecting to see that the author was some peer or contemporary of ours who clearly understood exactly the unease that comes with familliarity and smooth sailing.

As I write this, I think of a brother who was just lamenting how tall the waves are where he is, and how dark the night. Hang on, brother, God wants to reveal Himself to you there. Your difficulty is no accident and your family are needy to see you boldly holding fast to what you know is true in the absence of so much as a ray from a distant lighthouse.

I myself am in choppy seas with gusty unpredictable winds. I have sought familliar shelter through rest, through dear friends, through worship... but they have not satisfied me. Perhaps now I know why. My Master repeats His invitation to Peter to me, "Come" (Matt 15:29). Not so that I learn to walk on water, Peter failed there too. But rather that I learn to look to the Master.

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Sir Francis Drake - 1577