Jeremiah 5:18-22: a reflection

18“But even in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you. 19It will happen when you say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 20“Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear: 22Don’t you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’

In the midst of a heavy word of judgment, God pauses to press a question on his people, who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear: Do you not fear me? he asks. Will you not tremble before me? And he grounds the question in his mastery over creation: I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot cross it. The God who bounds the raging sea asks: will you not stand in awe of me?

Notice the image God chooses. The sea, in the ancient mind, was the very picture of chaos and untamed force, restless, roaring, threatening. And God says: I set its boundary with a line of sand, and for all its raging, it cannot cross what I decreed. The God who so effortlessly bounds the chaos of the sea is worthy of awe, and his people had lost it, grown dull, unable to see or fear the one who holds the roaring sea in check with a shore of sand.

There are two things to take from that image. First, a call to recover awe: the God we so easily grow casual about is the one who bounds the sea, and he is worthy of reverent fear. Do not lose your awe of him. And second, a comfort: the God who sets a boundary the raging sea cannot cross also bounds the chaos that threatens to overwhelm you. The waves of your own troubles may toss and roar, but they cannot pass the limit he has set. Stand in awe of the God who bounds the sea, and take comfort that he bounds your chaos too.

Lord, you set the sand as the boundary of the sea, and for all its raging, the waves cannot cross what you decreed. Recover my awe of you, the God who so effortlessly bounds the chaos. Keep me from growing dull and casual toward you. And when the waves of my own troubles toss and roar, comfort me that they cannot pass the limit you have set. I stand in awe of you, and I trust the God who bounds the sea.