Yahweh rules! The LORD is King! These themes tie together this and the last half of the Psalms of the nineties (95-99).

One can agree that Yahweh is the ruler because he has been there a very long time (from everlasting) and what he has made is very solid and secure.

Except for the seas and rivers. I am writing this during the rainy season in Indonesia where once again huge floods and massive landslides have wiped out villages and killed many people. It is a year since the tsunami, that began in North Sumatra, caused so much death and destruction.

Anyone who has been at sea in a storm, or even stood on the beach, knows that the ocean is a terrifying and uncontrollable force. Is God that powerful? Did he make the seas and is he able to control them?

The Psalm says Yahweh is much mightier than the most menacing waters. But if so why does he allow the waters to be so frightening and dangerous?

I suppose that many things Yahweh has made are frightening, just because he is such a powerful creator. Like its Maker, the creation is full of strength.

But he is a Creator you can trust. What he has established, he has put in place by his own will and Word. It is entirely the result of his own decision and depends completely on him. So it is not the creation or the ocean we need to worry about, but whether God is reliable. Can we trust him to remain in charge of this powerful world?

In the time of Moses and in the time of Jesus, we know that God showed his power over the seas. This Psalm perhaps looks back to the time of Moses, but it looks forward also to the time of Jesus. It brings to mind the disciples' question, "Who is this that even the winds and the waves obey him?" (Lk 8.25). Is this Yahweh, now robed in majesty, whom we should trust?

Dale