In times of quiet and peace, men drift along in a calm self-assurance; they forget their need of God. Yet the need of God is lying somewhere in the heart of every man. It's like a sunken object at the bottom of the sea held down by weeds and debris when the ocean is calm. But the storm comes that stirs the sea to its depths, then the buried thing is released and comes to the surface.
"So it is when the sea of our life is shaken to its depths", writes columnist John R. Gunn, "then the hidden need of God rises to the surface. We discover that without His wisdom and help, we are undone. In the midst of the raging sea, we look for the rock that is higher than I; the rock which is the love and power of God."
Our ordinary confidences in life often rest on shallow things - our health is good, we have a reasonable income, a good education - all that we need for a comfortable life. So we go on from day to day in a sort of peace, but the destructive floods come and the troubling winds blow and suddenly we discover that our shallow foundations are crumbling away.
What then is the one thing needful? The one thing that matters is God and what He can mean in a human life.
When the heart is overwhelmed, our only hope is to look to the rock that is higher than I. In the cleft of that rock, and there alone, shall we find shelter and safety amidst the storms and tempests of life. We're inclined to look to temporal success and material possessions for security, but in the last resort we shall find security only in God.