Though we have experience of disastrous floods, the full force of the figure can only be felt in Eastern and in mountainous lands. The "spate" in Scotland, the wady floods of Palestine, and the gigantic overflow of such rivers as the Tigris and the Euphrates, or the awful desolations of Chinese rivers when the embankments give way, alone provide adequate illustration of such texts as this now before us. If we take Mosaic associations for this psalm, then desert wadyfloods will be in the poet's mind. If we take the associations of the returned captives, then the awful floods of the Babylon rivers will be in his mind. In a previous homily the Jewish dread of the sea has been recalled. The Mosaic associations may include reference to God's control of the waters of the Red Sea, and using them as agents of his judgment on Pharaoh. One forcible illustration of a wady flood will indicate the force of this poetic figure, and help us to realize what he must be who can mate and master even such floods. A traveller was at Nazareth when a sudden but violent storm arose. The rain fell in torrents; and in the course of an hour a river flowed past the convent door, along what lately was a dry and quiet street. In the darkness of the night were heard loud shrieks for help. The flood carried away baskets, logs of wood, tables, and fruit stands. At length, a general alarm was given. Two houses, built on the sand, were undermined by the water, and both fell together, while the people in them escaped with difficulty. Loosened waters have been for man, in every age, the type of the masterful, the uncontrolled. Man never feels his helplessness so much as in presence of loosened waters. He can fight with fire; he can do nothing with water, when it once gets free.
I. THE POWER OF GOD IS SEEN IN HIS MASTERY OF WATERS. See especially the impression produced by the crossing of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the Egyptians. See same impression from crossing of Jordan. Great nations are likened to floods. And they too are fully within Divine control.
II. THE POWER OF GOD MANIFEST IS SEEN IN HIS MASTERY OF WATERS. Two striking scenes: Walking on the waters. Quelling the storm on Galilee with a word of command. - R.T.
The floods... lift up their waves.
I. What are the waves saying to us of HUMAN LIFE? Even in its greatest tranquillity there is its deep throb and moan; the sea is really never at rest. Life is like the sea, in constant motion. However exempt some may seem to be from anxiety and care, every heart knows its own bitterness, every spirit its own sob and sigh. Especially to the Christian this is not a place of rest. Toil and care, temptation and sorrow, mingle in the woof and warp of life. The waves therefore speak to us of the restlessness of human life. They also speak to us of the changefulness of life. How ever-changing the ocean is! At one time its waves are lashed into frantic fury, and its huge billows leap mountain high; anon, it is hushed and reeked to a cradled calm; at one time it is all aglow, and flaming with phosphorescent fire; at another time it is dull and leaden, and looks like liquid blue. How changing, too, is human life! Seasons of sorrow succeed seasons of gladness. Life is made up of losses and crosses, as well as of prizes and crowns. Especially is the life of the Christian chequered with storm and calm, shadows and sunshine, smiles and tears. The waves speak to us also of the separations of life. How the sea separates continent from continent and shore from shore! How many farewells are uttered on its shores! Life is full of adieus, from the cradle to the grave. The waves also speak to us of the depravity of life. By sin, death came into our world; and the ocean is like a mighty grave.
II. WHAT ARE THE WAVES SAYING TO US OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.?
1. The history of God's Providence has been as the ebb and flow of the tide. The rising tide has ever gained back what it seemed to lose, and it rises higher and higher; and the issue shall be that the knowledge of the Lord shall one day cover the earth as the waters cover the face of the mighty sea.
2. The sea cannot be controlled, but it can be made subservient to man, and a minister to his good. So we cannot command or control Divine Providence; but we can work with it, obey its laws, and make it subservient to our present and permanent good, and with its friendly aid we may sail to a better and a brighter shore.
3. The sea has an under-current. Although the waves may leap and roar, or the surface of the deep may be calm and still as a sheet of glass, yet the great deep, undisturbed, moves on! So, in the course and conduct of Divine Providence, around the shores of time, in the bays and creeks of human affairs, the waters may twist and twirl; but the great purposes of God move on, and His undisturbed affairs perpetually progress.
III. WHAT ARE THE WAVES SAYING TO US OF ALMIGHTY GOD? They speak to us of His power, wisdom, goodness, immensity. The sea is the symbol of infinity and eternity.
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JerusalemTopics
Breakers, Heaven, Mightier, Mighty, Noise, Sounds, Stronger, Thunder, Thunders, Voices, Waters, Waves, Yea, YesOutline
1. The majesty, stability, power, and holiness of Christ's kingdom.Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 93:4 1235 God, the LORD
4035 abundance
4266 sea
4852 thunder
Library
February 15 Evening
The floods lift up their waves.--PSA. 93:3. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.--O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? When thou …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily PathThe Need of Scripture, as a Guide and Teacher, in Coming to God as a Creator.
1. God gives his elect a better help to the knowledge of himself--viz. the Holy Scriptures. This he did from the very first. 2. First, By oracles and visions, and the ministry of the Patriarchs. Secondly, By the promulgation of the Law, and the preaching of the Prophets. Why the doctrines of religion are committed to writing. 3. This view confirmed, 1. By the depravity of our nature making it necessary in every one who would know God to have recourse to the word; 2. From those passages of the Psalms …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion
A Holy Life the Beauty of Christianity: Or, an Exhortation to Christians to be Holy. By John Bunyan.
Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.'--[Psalm 93:5] London, by B. W., for Benj. Alsop, at the Angel and Bible, in the Poultrey. 1684. THE EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. This is the most searching treatise that has ever fallen under our notice. It is an invaluable guide to those sincere Christians, who, under a sense of the infinite importance of the salvation of an immortal soul, and of the deceitfulness of their hearts, sigh and cry, "O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
The Foundation of the House of St. Joseph. The Observation of Holy Poverty Therein. How the Saint Left Toledo.
1. When I was staying with this lady, [1] already spoken of, in whose house I remained more than six months, our Lord ordained that a holy woman [2] of our Order should hear of me, who was more than seventy leagues away from the place. She happened to travel this way, and went some leagues out of her road that she might see me. Our Lord had moved her in the same year, and in the same month of the year, that He had moved me, to found another monastery of the Order; and as He had given her this desire, …
Teresa of Avila—The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus
A Canticle of Love
It is not only when He is about to send me some trial that Our Lord gives me warning and awakens my desire for it. For years I had cherished a longing which seemed impossible of realisation--to have a brother a Priest. I often used to think that if my little brothers had not gone to Heaven, I should have had the happiness of seeing them at the Altar. I greatly regretted being deprived of this joy. Yet God went beyond my dream; I only asked for one brother who would remember me each day at the Holy …
Therese Martin (of Lisieux)—The Story of a Soul
The Chorus of Angels
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour and glory, and blessing! I t was a good report which the queen of Sheba heard, in her own land, of the wisdom and glory of Solomon. It lessened her attachment to home, and prompted her to undertake a long journey to visit this greater King, of whom she had heard so much. She went, and she was not disappointed. Great as the expectations were, which she had formed from the relation made her by others, …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2
Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament
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