The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.
The seas have lifted up, 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.
Your statutes, Lord, stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days.
Psalm 93
I stumbled across this Psalm a few weeks ago and it’s really stuck with me for two reasons. It depicts an incredibly powerful window into both the reality and authority of the Living God. Secondly, captured in the midst of this sense of awe about the Lord is an awareness of someone panicking. This individual is in a dark place and needs reminding that God is in charge of the situation. And so He is!
I imagine – and this is my own interpretation, of course – a man drowning and suffering sheer terror as the waves of the sea crash over his head. It echoes Jonah perhaps, thrown into the depths and awaiting the jaws of the Megalodon or similar giant fish. There’s a hint of the waterline reaching his neck and churning upwards as the waves gather strength. He screams out “the seas have lifted up” three times with the last emphasis on “pounding” showing the urgency of the situation. The seas start by lifting up and end by smashing towards him. Danger is imminent and swarming over this stranger’s very existence.
And then comes this wonderful reassurance about the immensity of God. He is mightier. Mightier than both the threat and the thunder of the “great waters.” He’s even mightier than the “breakers.” How many of us can relate to that? How many breakers loom threateningly over us with health, finances, fears of the future, memories… make your own list! And yet “the LORD on high is mighty.” All troubles – whether it’s tinnitus or tonsilitis, darkness of the mind or death itself – are temporary. What is permanent is the statutes of the Lord. When He says something, so it is. Surely Genesis 1 simply reminds us of this. At first there is darkness. Then God says, “Let there be light.” And so it is.
How awesome that His loving holiness and truths “stand firm,” and that is a fact “for endless days.” In summary, how wonderful to be a Christian, adopted into the family of the one and true loving God and reassured by his presence for eternity. Mightier than any breakers. Mighty in grace!
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