THEN the Lord goes on to speak of the sea, and He asks Job, “Who shut up the sea with doors?... When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it... and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?” Does not this make us think of the majesty of the Creator who has determined its boundaries, its depths and its springs?
When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, he could speak to the wild waves and say, “Peace, be still"; and they obeyed. It was that same blessed One who was here speaking to Job, Men would like very much to control the waves, but it is through them that the Lord speaks to man. (See Psalm 39:44Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. (Psalm 39:4).) Just recently a ship was designed and built for the special duty of withstanding the polar ice and seas. Returning from its maiden voyage it went down in the heavy waves of the sea, with great loss of life. The remark was made in a news item: “Once again the cruel sea did its deadly work and made a mockery of the vanity of man.”
Elihu had already told Job that God in His ways with man sought to hide pride from man, and to keep back his soul from going down to the pit (chapter 33). Psalm 107 speaks of God’s ways with mariners: “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble,” Then when they are at their wit’s end, they cry unto the Lord who calms the tempest and brings them to their desired haven. Then it is added: “Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.” The Lord wants not only individual thanksgiving and worship, but also collective worship in the assembly of His people. In the New Testament we have repeatedly stressed our responsibility to go on with others in lowliness, in meekness, in love and long-suffering, for the glory of the Lord.
Next, God asks Job: “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days and caused the dayspring [dawn] to know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?” Whatever might be the infidel thoughts of men, faith knows that it is God who set all these things in motion. It is He who causes the sun to rise and shed its beams to the ends of the earth, dispelling the darkness which evil mull lake advantage of more than any other lime, in order to carry out their acts of wickedness and violence.
“It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.” When the earth is in darkness there is nothing to be seen, but when the light shines on it the beauty of God is seen traced upon it, like the impression made on the signet clay. “And from the wicked their light [their light was darkness] is withholden, and the uplifted arm is broken.”
ML-08/21/1960