The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty. Psalm 93:3–4
There are few analogies of threat to life that have been as persistent over the millennia as the portrayal of peril at sea. One of the subplots in the Dickens novel I am currently reading, Dombey and Son, is the likely loss of young Walter at sea. (Don’t spoil the ending for me if you know, but I’m really hoping he’s found alive!) It is a story I’ve read in countless novels including Robert Louis Stephenson’s Kidnapped and, of course, Melville’s Moby-Dick. Why this fascination with peril at sea? Because, in part, the sea is something we cannot control. Even in this age of unbelievable technological innovations, we still hear of enormous cruise ships breaking up on reefs, large cargo ships lost at sea, and even sophisticated military warships inexplicably colliding with other vessels. Recently, a drone was reported to have found a couple of boys lost at sea off the coast of Australia, which then dropped an inflatable raft from the sky to save them. But though technology has certainly improved the safety of travel at sea, it has by no means removed the risk. What is astounding, as we read Psalm 93, is to find that this same fear has dominated mankind for thousands of years. The picture portrayed in this psalm is of tumultuous seas that “have lifted up their voice.” It is a picture of “pounding waves.” One cannot help but envision the power of the storm described here…a picture found throughout Scripture whether it is Jonah’s trip to Tarshish (interrupted) or the disciples’ fearful crossing of Galilee while Jesus slept (“without warning a furious storm came upon the lake” Matthew 8:24). The fear produced by peril at sea is derived from a sense of absolute loss of control. There are few things more fear-inducing than the feeling of being tossed about by the waves with no way to stop it. Ironically, the relatability of such fear is in spite of the fact that a huge percentage of humanity live in land-locked areas without access to any significant bodies of water and are unlikely to face such a peril. Even though, as a fisherman, I’ve been out on a boat many times, I can only recall one experience where I was threatened by an unexpected squall...on a deep lake southwest of Mount Rainier. A storm quickly blew in and, just as quickly, the lake was cleared of every boat—except for ours. We weren’t going to let a little horizontal rain and 2-3 foot waves disrupt our fishing day. Even so, though it did rattle our nerves, we were never in serious peril. So, if this is an experience only a small percentage of us will ever face, why is it that such stories are so widely relatable? In brief, because we can all relate to storms in life that leave us feeling absolutely out of control. It is an experience common to man. Such storms come in many different forms: an unexpected illness or accident; job conflict or loss; school problems; irreconcilable differences in our relationships; financial loss; the loss of a loved one; even a social media misstep or misunderstanding. All of us can relate to storms in life that leave us feeling helpless. That is what makes the second half of the quote above so meaningful, “Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty” Psalm 93:4. The resounding message of Scripture is that we have a God who is bigger than the biggest storm. Our Lord is never surprised or overwhelmed by life’s squalls. He is mightier than the breakers of the sea. Yahweh is on high, above and over, life’s storms. This doesn’t mean that life will be easy. In fact, this psalm would never have been written were it not for the psalmist’s personal experience of the painfulness of life’s storms. But what it does mean is that we have a God who is never shaken and whose people are never forsaken. Talk about a source of hope and help in times of need. It is easy to lose sight of these truths in the midst of the storm. You would think that having the God of all creation in the boat would have calmed the disciples on Galilee. Not so much. We too easily forget that our God, a God far greater than any storm, is with us. That is why Scripture seeks to reminds us of this truth over and over again. I don’t know what kinds of storms you may be facing right now. But regardless of your storm, there is hope in these words from Psalm 93, “The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.”
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Dan GannonDan has ministered at Renton Bible Church, with his wife Debbie, since 2003. Archives
June 2022
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