PRAYED HOME | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 26, 1869

PRAYED HOME.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in the great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. In such circumstances man learns his helplessness as he learns it nowhere else; and there in times of extremest peril God reveals himself as the Saviour of the tempest-tossed, and the ruler of the storm.

Ah! God only knows how many prayers go up from fathers and mothers, and wives and children, who shudder at the howling of the midnight tempest, and fly for shelter to the covert of Jehovah’s wings, beseeching his mercy upon those who are beset with mortal peril and distress far out upon the raging deep.

And many a man, prayerless though he may be himself, yet feels and knows at such times the value of a mother’s prayers, and rests in confidence like that which led the poet to write,—

“Sleep soft, O wearied mariner, Rocked in the cradle of the sea; The ear of Heaven bends low to her, He comes to port who sails with me.”

A writer in the Presbyterian says, “A minister tells us of a weather-beaten sailor who, on his homeward journey, encountered a dreadful tempest. His mother, who had expected his return, was waiting with deep anxiety to see her son. During the raging of the storm she trembled, as she sat in her cottage, for her beloved child’s safety; and with strong faith in God she earnestly prayed for his preservation.

When night came, she and her husband retired to bed; but not to rest. They were far too anxious to sleep. As the morning dawned, the winds were hushed, and all was calm. Presently the little gate in front of their dwelling turned on its hinges, the door opened, and their son, their beloved son, for whose life they had feared, stood before them. The vessel had been driven into one of the many harbors on the coast, and was safe. “Mother,” said he, as tears ran down his rugged face, “I know that you’d pray me home.”

Mother, pray on. The boy may be far away. Storms may beset him, and dangers surround him, but God hears prayer. And many a tempest-tossed and sorely-troubled soul, shall greet a mother in the paradise of God, and say, “Mother, you have prayed me home.”—The Christian.