John Newton and the Storm He Kept Forgetting

In March 1748, a violent storm nearly sank the slave trading ship Greyhound off the coast of Ireland. John Newton, a profane and reckless young sailor, found himself lashed to the deck, bailing water for eleven desperate hours. Somewhere in those terrifying hours, he cried out to the Almighty for mercy. When the sea calmed, Newton felt genuine gratitude. He read Thomas à Kempis. He prayed.

But within weeks, Newton drifted back. He returned to the slave trade, to coarse living, to spiritual indifference. It was not his first relapse. Years earlier, a severe illness in West Africa had driven him to his knees — only for him to forget his prayers once his fever broke. The pattern repeated itself across oceans and seasons: crisis, repentance, relief, forgetfulness.

Yet God did not abandon John Newton. The Most High kept pursuing him through every relapse, every broken promise, every half-hearted vow. It took years before Newton's conversion held — years of patient, unearned compassion from a God who remembered that Newton was dust.

Psalm 78 describes the same ancient rhythm: "When He slew them, then they sought Him... but they flattered Him with their mouths." Yet the very next verse declares that God, "full of compassion, forgave their iniquity." He knows our frame. He keeps coming back for us, even when we keep walking away.