The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea. (Psalm 93:3-4)
The Bible tells us that the Lord “strengthened the fountains of the deep” and “assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command” (Proverbs 8:28-29). It is the Lord who allowed the fountains of the deep to be broken up so that the seas could overrun their boundaries and inundate the earth in a universal flood. In other words, the Lord is mightier than the waves of the sea for He is the One who created them for His glory and purpose. He is the One who commands the wind and waves saying, “Peace! Be still.”
This being so, should we conclude that the sea and waves have the ability to rise up in defiance of the Lord’s established order? Actually, Scripture commonly uses the seas as a metaphor for the nations of the world. For instance, Isaiah said the nations of the world “make a noise like the roar of the seas,” and he likened them to “the rushing of mighty waters” (Isaiah 17:12). David pleaded with the Lord to “deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of foreigners” (Psalm 144:7). We are to conclude, therefore, the psalmist is acknowledging that the nations who oppose God and His people often rise up in a show of strength and defiance, intending to intimidate and, if possible, destroy the beloved of the Lord.
Yet the psalmist also makes this acknowledgment; though the nations come against us in wave after wave of assault, accusation and intimidation, the Lord is above them all. Just as the waters stand up in a heap and then return to their place at His command, the nations are under His sovereignty. He raises up their kings and brings down their governments according to His Will. At His rebuke, the waters flee (Psalm 104:7); likewise, God rebukes the nations and they “flee far away” (Isaiah 17:13). The point is, as intimidating as the adversary presents himself at times through those under his influence, the Lord our God has only to speak the word and send the enemy into a full retreat. And so, when it seems we are being overwhelmed by a flood of hardships through attacks and complications remember: “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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