Proud Waves

Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
Job 38:8–11
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Proud Waves
If you live in a flood zone or in hurricane alley, you know water’s risk to your property and your life.  Water is a tremendous force that can power homes and factories when harnessed properly, make crops grow in the desert, and so much more. But when the waves of a tsunami are barreling down upon a coastal village, water is anything but a friend.  It is difficult to comprehend the power of water and its impact on our planet.  Yet, in all its strength, it is nothing more than the lapping of the waves against a sink as a child plays with a toy boat when compared to God.  For all its might, it is still a creation.  We are reminded of this here as God highlights that it was He that “shut in the sea” and “prescribed limits for it.” And in God’s hands, water can at the same time bring death and salvation. Think back to the crossing of the Red Sea. Pharaoh’s army is destroyed, yet the Israelites are saved because of our Lord’s command of the water.  But one does not have to look that far back in history.  Remember your Baptism.  In that water combined with God’s Word, the death of the sinner was accomplished while the rebirth of the new man was accomplished. The proud waves of the Baptismal font bear witness to the power and might of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit reconciled us to the Father through this holy Sacrament.