Psalm 107:23-24

Psalm 107:23-24

The works of the Lord in the deep

This verse takes us back to the beginning of creation where we read that the earth was formless, but the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. When God spoke, a vault separated the waters above and below and those above were called sky. And then God gathered the waters below the sky into one place so that dry land appeared. (Genesis 1.) Psalm 104:7 tells us that, after the flood, “At Your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of Your thunder they took to flight.” Today’s verse reminds us that these are the mighty waters, they certainly appeared so to the sailors at the time this was written. It is doubtful that many ventured further than the Mediterranean Sea or the Indian Ocean, those ventures alone would have taught these ancient mariners about the violence of the waves and the depths that lay below. Many would have lost their lives in storms way beyond their control and the seas therefore held a sinister and impenetrable hold over those who sailed them. 

To those who did go out to the sea in ships there were wonders to behold, they saw sights beyond the imagination of ordinary people, they witnessed the giant creatures that cruised beneath the waves and some sailors would undoubtedly have dived into the depths and marvelled at the life that existed below. These are all the works of the Lord; they are all His wonderful deeds in the deep. 

Today’s vast tankers and container ships are huge and barely troubled by even the fiercest storms, we may have conquered the waves, but I still get a shiver as I witness great breakers crashing on to the shore, there are still a million secrets that we have failed to unravel from beneath the waters. Let us not lose our sense of dependency or awe at the works of our Creator, it is so arrogant to think that we have mastered it all.  

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