There is just something special about the sea. Being by the seaside, or as we Marylanders call it, being “down the ocean,” can be a spiritual experience. The ocean I’m dreaming of stretches past the horizon line. It’s vast and holds both danger and beauty. It’s both wild and peaceful. Water has been associated with the Spirit of God since before the beginning, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). The sea, or the ocean, is water which God Himself gathered together, “God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10). I’ve been blessed to experience many contemplative and prayerful moments of wonder by the ocean. It has the ability to make a person feel very small and powerless, and yet very alive, and at the same time still, very connected to God. Being near something God has created, whether people or lakes or oceans has the capacity to help us understand or witness the Creator a little better.
We are in many ways powerless to fight or overpower the ocean. It is simply too powerful for us. There are many levels to the ocean, but today I’ll just reference the waves on the surface. Waves have been used as an analogy for the volatility of our own human emotions, even in the Bible. Jesus was the only one able to calm the waves of the sea: “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?‘” (Mark 4:37-41).
Jesus stayed calm despite the seeming danger of the boat filling with water and the waves crashing in on them. With a simple command, Jesus had authority over the sea. In this example, I would argue that He also had authority over the fear that the others felt. Their emotions became heightened to a level matching the height of the crashing waves in fear of perishing. Yet Jesus said, “Why are you so afraid?”
Jesus asks us for faith in Him and His authority in the midst of the “waves” of emotions in our lives. He promises to be with us: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2). No wave can overwhelm us when we have faith in Jesus.
Waves are also an analogy in Scripture for that which diverts us away from Truth. Paul wrote that it takes a mature faith in Christ to avoid being subject to these kinds of waves, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14). If the well of our faith isn’t deep and grounded on solid foundation (perhaps, if you will, like that of the ocean floor), waves can knock us off course and readily expose our hearts to lies that try to kill, steal, and destroy us (John 10:10).
There is not much better to me than being by the ocean and feeling connected to the depth of meaning, the beauty of Creation, and the wonder of experiencing something so ancient yet so dynamic. God has revealed His character to us through so many ways, but one of my favorites is the ocean. Whether we have the opportunity to experience the ocean in this way or not, may we all find the refreshment, rest, and peace of God’s unfathomable love. May God strengthen our faith in Him as we discover the unique and personal ways He speaks directly to our hearts. Amen.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).
“Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?” (Isaiah 51:10).
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