'Mightier than the noise of many waters'

As a young man, I impressed people by reciting all 16 sections of the 91st Psalm from memory. Little did I know that these verses would sustain me when I faced a version of “the terror by night” in my own life.

I served in the United States Navy during the Second World War, and was at one point a crewman on a wooden-hulled sub chaser, the smallest ship to cross the Pacific Ocean under its own power during the war.

At midnight one night, I was called to go on duty in the engine room during a violent storm. We were traveling from the central Philippine Islands to Brunei Bay, Borneo. Because our route would take us past enemy-held islands, we could use no lights or our radio; and our gyro and magnetic compasses were rotating wildly in the storm. Adding to the danger, we were in a part of the ocean that had been mined by every country involved in that war.

At 4:00 a.m. someone was supposed to relieve me in the engine room, but nobody came. I went up the engine room ladder, opened the hatch, and was surprised to see many of the crew in a frightened state, gathered around the two emergency life rafts. I called out, “Who is supposed to relieve me in the engine room?” All I heard in response was a very frightened, shrill voice coming from the toughest guy, the one everyone usually avoided: “Everyone pray to their God!”

It was clear to me that God was indeed mightier than stormy seas.

Since no one took over in the engine room, I stayed and serviced the engines and other equipment for another four hours. As I was doing that service work, I recited the 91st Psalm, as I had been doing since I was a small boy: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (verse 1 ) all the way through to “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (verse 16 ). I recited other passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, that I had memorized, and I also sang hymns written by Mrs. Eddy. Particularly helpful was the promise in Science and Health: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (p. vii ). These ideas helped keep my thought fixed on God.

When we finally came out of the storm, I was relieved of my engine-room duty. And when I came topside, I found that we were traveling down the coast of Borneo, exactly where we were supposed to be. At 8:30 a.m. we sighted Brunei Bay, our correct location, at exactly the estimated time of arrival. 

When I observed our captain and the quartermaster of the ship’s bridge, they were shrugging their shoulders in disbelief that we had come through the storm without the aid of any navigational equipment, communication help, or knowledge of where the mines were—and still arrived safely and on time.

Mary Baker Eddy states in Science and Health, “Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith: ‘The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.’ ” She goes on to state, “Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. …

“This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light” (p. 505 ). It was clear to me that God was indeed mightier than stormy seas, and that spiritual sense had quietly guided us through the waters that night.