Psalm 93:3

Psalm 93:3

The power of the seas

It’s hard for us to imagine the way in which ancient peoples viewed the seas. They had no conception of the size of the oceans or of the land masses that dominated the planet’s surface. Travelling across the vast waters, to who knows where, seemed to be impossible. In addition, the technology simply wasn’t available to build great vessels that could cross the oceans or ride on the mighty waves that existed beyond the seashore. Ships of that time bustled across the Mediterranean and kept to well-defined passages close to the land but what lay beyond? No one knew. Thus, most people viewed the sea as a hostile environment, turbulent and untamed.

However, there was no question, in the minds of the psalm writers, as to who created the seas and who brought relative calm and order to the pre-creation world. Genesis chapter 1 told them all that they needed to know; it was God who separated the waters that covered the earth. It was God who produced dry land and it was God who put the clouds in the sky that watered the ground below. “He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses.” Psalm 33:7. Psalm 104 provides a detailed description of the creative and maintaining works of the Lord with regard to the seas but let us allow Job the final word on this subject. “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?”  Job 38:8-11.

The turbulence of the seas is sometimes used in the Scriptures as a metaphor for the raging opposition of God’s enemies. In Psalm 74:12-14 a many-headed monster is depicted as rearing itself from the sea and it was necessary for the Lord God to overcome this leviathan before bringing order to the chaotic world. In the same way He tamed the Red Sea so that the monster of Egypt might be destroyed, and God’s people would escape their slavery. Whichever way you look at it, the power of the Lord God is revealed in His authority over the pounding waves and His control of the oceans. It impressed ancient peoples and even though we have in many ways conquered this planet, we should be impressed too. Hallelujah!

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