The Sailor Who Kept Making Promises

In March 1748, John Newton's slave ship nearly broke apart in a violent North Atlantic storm. Waves crashed through the deck as the vessel listed dangerously. Newton, who had long abandoned the faith his mother taught him, cried out to God for mercy. When the storm finally passed, he opened a Bible and began to pray.

But within weeks, Newton was back at the slave trade, his desperate prayers forgotten like morning fog.

This wasn't his first crisis conversion. Newton had called out to God during a severe illness on the West African coast. He'd bargained with the Almighty during earlier storms at sea. Each time, danger drove him to his knees. Each time, safety lured him back to indifference. His repentance was fierce in the moment but evaporated once the threat had passed.

The psalmist could have been writing Newton's biography: "When He slew them, then they sought Him... Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue; for their heart was not steadfast with Him."