Psalms 89:9

Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them.

The Divine government of the tumultuous

I. He rules the material sea. How furious does the old ocean sometimes become, how its billows often rise like mountains, roar like lions, and battle like demons! But God rules them. He has set a boundary to them. “He holds the waters in the hollow of His hand.”

II. He rules the mental sea. The material ocean is but a faint emblem of the mental seas, which are a thousand times deeper, larger and more awful.

1. There is the sea of thought. In every individual mind, thoughts rise and break like billows on the shore, and frequently they are most tumultuous. On this globe there are no less than twelve hundred million such seas, and what is the population of this globe compared to the mental population of the universe? He rules all these seas, rules them all even in their most raging condition.

2. There is the sea of passion. How the passions of men often rage in individuals, communities, nations! How rage, too, the passions of hell. But God rules them all. (Homilist.)

God ruling the storm

I. None who saw the sea, and the destruction it caused, could fail to realize the helplessness of men in presence of those forces by which we are surrounded. The spectators could only wonder. Life was in jeopardy: it was saved at the risk of life. All honour to the men who applied their knowledge of the ways of the sea; that, with their own lives in their hands, they sought to save--and succeeded, too, in rescuing--their fellows from a watery grave.

II. The goodness of God in restraining those forces against which we are so helpless. There is a point beyond which they cannot go. True, there are controlling laws. If the sea, rising under the influence of the sun and moon, reaches a very high point, it is stayed by other forces from going farther. But whence do these forces derive their existence? Not in the material itself. It is the working of His power. “He rules the raging of the sea,” etc. Thus we discover order and design in the whole range of God’s works; if one force presses downwards, others press upward; if one force imperils the existence of men, another force controls it; if in one direction there is danger, in another direction the means of safety are found.

III. The uncertain tenure on which material good is secured to us. In every combination there are seeds of destruction in the material itself.

IV. God is ever present in the varying conditions of our life. Can He be present in that storm? Did He see the danger of those who stood in peril of their life? No, He could not be there, is the hasty conclusion of most of us. When His waves overwhelm us can He be there? Did not the sea break loose from His hand? No; He rules the raging of the sea. There is a certain extent in which it can remove from its ordinary course, but then it is as much under control as when, with its smooth and glassy surface, it lies basking in the summer sun. And why? Because by His laws He is there. The force is His force, whether it be a storm or calm. Does He, then, destroy? No; the destruction is only to that which trespasses on the sea. His object is health, and the storm is the action of opposing forces restoring their equilibrium, working out purposes of sovereign skill. But God is there. What a consolation and strength! (H. W. Butcher.)