As the waters cover the sea
Dear Friends,
During Advent we sang the hymn which begins, “God is working His purpose out.” The last line of each verse of this hymn is “as the waters cover the sea.” This, someone commented to me many years ago, was a ridiculous statement because of course water covers the sea!
There are many things in the Bible which don’t immediately make sense and I suppose this is one of them.
During the Advent season we were thinking about the second coming when we read in Philippians 2 v 10-11 that, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” In the hymn we sing that the glory of God will be seen, but the actual words in the Bible are, “The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” This, then, is saying that the knowledge of God will one day flood the earth and everyone will know the truth about God.
As we move into the new year I wonder what our hopes are for 2011. We probably all have things we would like to do, i.e. have a nice holiday in the sun away from the coldness we’ve been experiencing recently, or a year of better health, or to be able to manage when the predicted austerity begins to bite, or something else.
You may know that Psalm 119 is extremely long. Verse 74 includes “I have put my hope in your word,” but it’s interesting to note that “word” is used over seventeen times in the Psalm. The writer says, “strengthen me with your word”, “I trust in your word, the word of truth”, “I obey your word, it is eternal”, “your word is a lamp to my feet.”
On Christmas Day we rejoice once again that the Word became flesh and Jesus Christ was born. He is our hope during 2011, He is our strength, our guide, our light. Whatever our own personal hopes are we must be sure that Jesus Christ is involved in them and when we struggle with disappointment let us turn once more to the written word and prayer. The Lord knows our needs even before we put them to Him in prayer.
A Happy and Blessed New Year everyone.
With love in Christ Jesus,
Marion