Day 573: The one who sets boundaries - Psalm 93

1 The Lord reigns; He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; He has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. 2 Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.

3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. 4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty! 5 Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. Psalm 93 English Standard Version.

Can you picture the scenes described in vs 3-4 of this short Psalm? Torrents of water flooding the landscape, or colossal waves rolling across the churned up depths of the ocean. It's probably easier for those who grew up in coastal towns to visualize. The Psalm, however, reminds us that, despite commotions and upheavals in the world, God is eternal. He rules over creation, and He has set boundaries. Even the world itself is firmly fixed by Him and will never be moved.

This eternal powerful lordship of God (and the boundaries He sets) is seen in three areas which the pictures of devastating floods and raging storms bring to mind. We see it firstly in His acts of creation. When God told the man named Job to look at His creation He said: “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come - here your proud waves must stop!’” (Job 38:8-11) God’s power to bind the ocean’s mountainous waves was there at creation.

We see it secondly in the boundary God set to the flood by which He judged the world in the days of Noah. When the prophet Isaiah was encouraging Israel by reminding them of God's faithfulness, and His restraint in not destroying them as their sins deserved, he says of God: “'Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth - so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you. For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,' says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” Isaiah 54:9-10. The flood was always under God’s control and He saved His people though that judgement.

Thirdly, we see God's lordship, and the boundaries He sets, in the way He raises up or puts down mighty nations. The Bible uses the restlessness of the sea and it's storms as a picture of the nations of the world. In Isaiah 17:12-13 we read: “Oh, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Oh, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters! The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but He will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.” So when the apostle Paul spoke to the proud people of Athens he told them that God made the world and everything in it and therefore is Lord of heaven and earth. And then he says: “He created from one man all the nations throughout the whole earth and He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.” (Acts 17:26)

There have been countless times over the centuries when nations so roared and thundered that people feared the world was coming to an end. In recent times it was the two great wars, and in our generation it is the threat of nuclear weapons and the rise of anarchy in many places. But the end of all things is not in the hands of the nations – the world's destiny is in the hands of our eternal God whose decrees are trustworthy – and holy! (vs 5 above). We also have a Saviour of whom His disciples cried out in amazement and said: “Who is this man that even the winds and waves obey!” (Matthew 8:27) Let us not fear then, even when the earth seems to be shaking and the waves are crashing down, because we have a God who sets boundaries to how far evil may be lifted up, and He is able to save His people.