Psalm 88:7

Psalm 88:7

Overwhelmed by waves

It was not uncommon for peoples of ancient times to fear the wind and the waves; the weather was way out of their control and impossible to understand, the best that they could do was to attribute the mighty forces of creation to the activities of the gods. In Israel’s case, one God had the elements in His hands, and He controlled the waves, the tides, the storm clouds, as well as the sun, the moon and the stars. Even to this day, we have no control over earthquakes, weather patterns, tsunamis, tornados, hurricanes etc. When you think about it, the modern-day clamour about climate change is caused simply by the fact that things are happening to the planet that man cannot control! He has never been able to control these things, only God can control them!

The writer of this Psalm sees the calamities that have overcome him as waves of wrath, elemental forces have brought him to the point of death and behind all of them, lies the angry hand of God. We might do well to look at our world at this time and draw the same conclusions! If we continue to ignore the Creator and to take more and more control of our human destiny, the waves of wrath will continue to grow in intensity.

The Lord Jesus understood this, long before He made His way to the cross. That was part of His agony, that He must bear the sin of the whole world and in so doing, He must face the full wrath of God for the whole world. No ordinary man could have done this, we falter and become frail after one onslaught of righteous judgement brought about by our disobedience or unbelief. The Lord Jesus bore the wrath that was stored up for us all! The pain He must have borne is unimaginable. 

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