(new article tomorrow)
Isaiah 57: [20] But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. [21] There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Jude describes unsaved humanity as: [13] Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
“In the Bible, waters represent the satanic policy of evil. In fact, when you study the waters in Scripture, you remember how the Lord Jesus Christ was asleep on the boat and then, all of a sudden from out of the sky, the winds and the sea begin to rage?
“You know what Christ is doing through the whole storm? He’s asleep. The raging seas represent the confusion; the foam, the muck, the mire," explains Alex Kurz.
“Over and over again, we see the Bible likening the human experience, because of the wickedness and the evil, to being like this troubled sea. Turmoil, no direction, no stability. The world is restless, and as Isaiah 57:20 tells us, it cannot rest.
“How do you and I as Believers rest in a restless world? There are two consequences of resting. No. 1, to rest means were free from the stress, from the anxiety. We’re free from the work.
“It has the connotation of being liberated from something that causes an unsettled soul; the unrestful spirit. But there’s another consequence when we’re resting. When we rest, we’re actually healing; we’re experiencing refreshment. We’re experiencing reorientation, being reenergized. We’re being recharged.
“You know what David is praying there in verse 6? [6] And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
[7] Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.
[8] I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.
“Sometimes we just want to get away from it, right? Had a bad day, a bad week? Oh, wouldn’t it be great to have wings and just escape? Rise above all of the restlessness around us. Now why does David single out the dove and likens it to being at rest?
Genesis 8:[6] And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
[7] And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
[8] Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
“David does not say I wish I had the wings of a raven or an eagle. He singles out the dove. It’s the symbol of peace, gentleness.
Verse 9: [9] But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
“The first mention of a dove in the Bible, the setting, the context has to do with a dove looking for rest: ‘I have no place to land.’
“The earth is suffering the judgment and wrath of God by way of the flood waters and there’s nowhere to rest. Think about King David: ‘You know what, I want to have wings. I want to have wings like a dove. I want to fly away from the restlessness of life.’ ”
*****
One of the most frequently sung hymns at my church, “Higher Ground,” goes:
“My heart has no desire to stay Where doubts arise and fears dismay; Though some may dwell where these abound, My prayer, my aim, is higher ground."
"The Apostle Paul had this concept of holding on loosely to earth. When he says, ‘Neither count I my life dear to myself,’ he didn’t say he didn’t love his family, or that he was trying to die tomorrow. He said, ‘I’m holding it loose. The most precious things to me are not what I possess here.’
*****
Here's a post from 2018:
In Mark 4 Jesus and His disciples get into a boat and cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
“Go back and read Psalm 89, Psalm 107, Psalm 67, and you’ll see that only Jehovah, the Creator, can calm the raging sea,” explains Richard Jordan. “Jesus demonstrates Himself to be the Jehovah God of the Old Testament by standing and ordering creation to cease the rages and that lake turned into the face of a mirror; totally calm.
“He says to His disciples, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?’ There’s their problem. ‘Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.’
“Look what they forgot in verse 35: ‘And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.’
“Jesus gets up and says, ‘Peace, be still,’ and everything calms down. Then He says, ‘Don’t you dudes remember what I just told you? Have you forgotten that I told you we’re going to the other side?’
“He’s emphasizing the point, ‘If you drowned out here in the storm my word wouldn’t be true, so if you really understood what I told you and believed it, you know what you’d be doing? You’d be down here sleeping with me because I’m just resting ’til we get to the other side, because that’s where the Father told me we’re going.’
*****
“You ever hear that song, ‘Master, the tempest is raging! The billows are tossing high! The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness. No shelter or help is nigh.’
“They’re crying, ‘We’re dying, Lord, and you’re asleep! How can you sleep?! Carest thou not that we perish?!’
“What a stupid question, but they’re all caught up in their circumstances. He arises and does what only God can do, rebuking the wind and saying unto the sea, ‘Peace.’
“Only God can do that! Once again He demonstrates Himself to be the Messiah. Psalm 89
said that’s exactly what Israel’s Messiah would do:
[9] Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
“You ever been that way in your life? The winds and the waves are beating; life’s coming over the transom and all of a sudden your ship is full of all kind of garbage?
“Here’s these disciples with the seaweed and the bushes hanging all over them and they’re looking at Jesus and He’s asleep.
“When Jesus says to them, ‘Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?’ I read that and think, ‘Wait a minute, what in the world is He talking about?
“Well, as Paul writes, ‘Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.’ So you
look back up through the passage in Mark and ask, ‘What did He say to them that they aren’t believing?’
“Look back at verse 35: What do you think they’re going to do? You know why He’s asleep? They aren’t on the other side yet! You say, ‘They didn’t believe what He said to them.’
“My point to you is, God’s Word doesn’t calm the storms until you believe it! The power that’s in that Book stays in that Book until you believe it!
“And you can be just like the storm-tossed, frightened, confused, bewildered, upset, accusing . . . Imagine saying to the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘Carest not that we perish?’
“What an accusation! He says, ‘Peace, be still.’ He does what He says He’s going to do. The Word of God is where the power of God resides.”
Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!
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