Be Still And Know

READ: Isaiah 57.20-21 NLT “Those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt. There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God. It was Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in his famous Confessions who observed,” Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” There is no doubt that Augustine was reflecting on his own life. He had lived a promiscuous life before he became a Christian at the age of 31 and had lurched from one philosophy to another. He knew how tempestuous and unsatisfying life was when lived in his own way and it was clearly a matter of joy and relief when, through the friendship of Bishop Ambrose, he found personal faith in Christ. A few days before writing this we were in Devon as a family watching the waves  crashing against the beach. I’ve seen this a thousand times but the enormous power of the sea struck me afresh. Everything got churned up by the angry waves. This, Isaiah declares, i