Were among the survivors squeezed
Together on the wooden raft.
Their ship had been torpedoed by the
Germans.
Adrift at sea for weeks, clinging to life,
The woman consoled her children with
Scripture they had memorized.
As I read the woman's account, I tried to
Imagine her plight.
At one point, Ethel felt like she was
About to break.
But as the flood of discouragement
Rolled over her, a woman's name came
To mind: Hagar.
The obscure Bible woman had also been a
Castaway with her son, abandoned in the
Wilderness, dying of thirst.
But when God provided a well, Hagar named
The spot, "God seest me." *
The missionary recalled the words,
Spoke the words, softly at first and then
She projected them loudly across the
Bobbing battered raft.
"Thou God, seest me.
Thou God, seest me.
Thou God, seest me."
"Is she loony?" the other drifters wondered.
No, it was her prayer of affirmation.
And God gave her grace to endure until they
Were rescued after 20 tortuous days.
God saw Hagar in the barren wasteland.
He saw Ethel in the surging ocean, and
He sees me in my own loneliness and
Grief.
His words are never outdated,
Never changing.
He meets us in our most
Desperate moments and we cry out,
"God, You see."
*Genesis 16:13
The account is from the book In Peril On The Sea.