He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. (Psalm 33:7)
When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, God commanded them to take a detour which led them to the seashore. When Pharaoh’s chariots closed in, the Bible says that “with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were gathered together; the floods stood upright like a heap; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea” (Exodus 15:8). In the beginning, when the waters covered the entire surface of the earth, God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear” (Genesis 1:9).
What do these two verses have in common? For starters, they establish that the Creator has complete authority over all elements of His Creation — even the winds and the sea obey Him. Therefore we are to understand that, without His Word to establish and maintain order and proper function, there are forces in this world that could cause chaos and great destruction.
Again, in the beginning before there was dry land, there was enough water to cover the entire earth, a fact reaffirmed by the flood in Noah’s day. It is written, “All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened … and the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered” (Genesis 7:11, 19). Only when God made a wind (ruach) to pass over the earth and command the fountains of the deep to stop, did the waters recede. The point is to validate what the psalmist said: “He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.”
It is His Word that keeps these innumerable deposits of water contained within the depths of the earth so as not to flood the world. His Word is what “assigned to the sea its’ limit” so that the waters would not cross the boundary He had established (Proverbs 8:29). Without His Word, this world would be overrun with chaos and would fall apart in an instant. If that is true of the world at large, is it not also true of our little world and life?
There is no telling what great floods He keeps at bay on our account. There is no way to know for sure just how much chaos the enemy would have unleashed on us were it not for the Lord saying, “No!” So then, let us not take His great compassion and wisdom for granted but let us be grateful that He alone has the authority to command the wind and seas. Let us be thankful that, on our account, His Word still maintains order in His Creation.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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