Job 7:12

“Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?” 
              — Job 7:12

This was a strange question for Job to ask of the Lord. He felt himself
to be too insignificant to be so strictly watched and chastened, and he
hoped that he was not so unruly as to need to be so restrained. The
enquiry was natural from one surrounded with such insupportable
miseries, but after all, it is capable of a very humbling answer. It is
true man is not the sea, but he is even more troublesome and unruly.
The sea obediently respects its boundary, and though it be but a belt
of sand, it does not overleap the limit. Mighty as it is, it hears the
divine hitherto, and when most raging with tempest it respects the
word; but self-willed man defies heaven and oppresses earth, neither is
there any end to this rebellious rage. The sea, obedient to the moon,
ebbs and flows with ceaseless regularity, and thus renders an active as
well as a passive obedience; but man, restless beyond his sphere,
sleeps within the lines of duty, indolent where he should be active. He
will neither come nor go at the divine command, but sullenly prefers to
do what he should not, and to leave undone that which is required of
him. Every drop in the ocean, every beaded bubble, and every yeasty
foam-flake, every shell and pebble, feel the power of law, and yield or
move at once. O that our nature were but one thousandth part as much
conformed to the will of God! We call the sea fickle and false, but how
constant it is! Since our fathers’ days, and the old time before them,
the sea is where it was, beating on the same cliffs to the same tune;
we know where to find it, it forsakes not its bed, and changes not in
its ceaseless boom; but where is man-vain, fickle man? Can the wise man
guess by what folly he will next be seduced from his obedience? We need
more watching than the billowy sea, and are far more rebellious. Lord,
rule us for thine own glory. Amen.

On this day…

• Mathew 20 – 2024
• Mathew 19 – 2024
• Isaiah 1 – 2023
• Joshua 5 – 2023
• November 26, 2016 – 2016
• John c3:v16 – 2011
• 1 Peter c1:v12 | The Holy Spirit – 2011
• 1 Peter c1:v24 – 2011
• 1 Peter c1:v17 – 2011
• 1 Peter c1:v11 – 2011