Psalm 93

Psalm 93 is the first of a group of psalms (up to Psalm 99) that celebrate the sovereign rule of God over the earth. Like the rest of these psalms this is a psalm that expresses an attitude of reverence and awe. It brings us toward the kind of experience that Job came to by the end of the book that bears his name. In the face of the awesome strength and magnitude of the natural world the psalmist experiences something that words cannot do justice to. Hence only the language of the pounding seas will suffice to express something of what is felt here. In the ancient world the ocean was viewed not as we romantically view it today but with a great measure of dread. The great abyss of the ocean was the place where many lost their lives and was viewed as unfathomable as the sky in many ways. It was also seen therefore as a place of mystery. It is not hard then to see why the psalmist calls on the ocean to express what he feels about God. The experience of awe, that is, the fear of the Lord, is the experience of the unfathomable greatness of God and the infinite and mysterious nature of God’s being. Riding on the will of God can make one feel as vulnerable as riding on the great ocean and yet the greatness of God is also felt in this psalm to be celebrated as a person’s greatest security. For the throne of God stands firm and cannot be moved. The transcendence and immutability of God is seen here to be the anchor in a creation that makes man feel so miniscule and vulnerable.