The wind here represents the power of the Lord's love; the fact that it was "contrary" shows that the doctrinal system represented by the ship was relatively external, not really in harmony with the Lord's love. And so the waves – attacks of false thinking – threatened to swamp the ship. This is certainly a way we feel sometimes – lost in a sea of worldly ideas, attacked by the reasonings of others, with our beliefs feeling flimsy underfoot and the Lord far away on a mountain praying, not even thinking about us.