“What matters beating wind and tossing billow If only we are in the boat with Thee?” —Amy Carmichael
Forgive me if this is simply a flight of fancy, but in the first part of Psalm 93, I seem to see the Lord rising from His throne in regal majesty, His garments billowing out like the velvet sky, studded with His celestial diamonds. He fastens on His belt of strength and then descends, stepping from star to star until He arrives to establish His rule on earth. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool’” (Isa 66:1). But now the scene changes. It’s not the majestic stillness of space, but the thundering surge crashing on the shore. “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves” (Ps 93:3). What do these breakers represent? Are they “the wicked…like the troubled sea” (Isa 57:20)? Is this the action of “the Lord…who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar” ( Jer 31:35), designed to cast us on Him? Are they the challenges the Lord brings into our lives to test us, then walks us through them? “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you” (Isa 43:2). Whatever the case, “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea” (Ps 93:4). On the one hand, He is the God “who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar” (Isa 51:15, BSB). On the other hand, “He calms the storm, so that its waves are still” (Ps 107:29). Of course, He has no need to calm the storm—He can walk on it, just as our Lord Jesus did! For, says Job, “He alone…treads on the waves of the sea” ( Job 9:8). So whether seated on the throne, or standing on the foam, He’s in absolute control. The psalm ends with this: His certain word and holy character are the unchanging foundation to His eternal reign (Ps 93:5).