Psalms 89:9

9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, thou stillest them.

Psalms 89:9 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 89:9

Thou rulest the raging of the sea
The power, pride, and elation of it, when it swells, and foams, and rages, and becomes boisterous, and threatens vessels upon it with utter ruin and destruction; but the Lord, who has it under his dominion and government, restrains it; he has made and can manage it, and he only: his power over it is seen in assigning it its place, and ordering the waters of it to it when first made; in placing the sand for its boundary by a perpetual decree, which it cannot pass; by commanding the stormy wind to lift up its waves, and by making the storm a calm, and the waves thereof still; see ( Psalms 107:25 Psalms 107:29 ) , instances of this were at the universal deluge, and at the Red sea:

when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them;
when the sea lifts up its waves, and both lift up their voice, and make a noise, and roar, the Lord hushes them, and makes them still and quiet, as a parent its child when it cries, or a master his scholars, when they are noisy and tumultuous; so Christ rebuked the wind, and checked the raging sea, and made it calm, when the ship in which he was with his disciples was covered with its waves; and as this is mentioned here as an instance of the great power and strength of the Lord of hosts, so that was a proof and evidence of the true and proper divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, ( Matthew 8:24-27 ) , all this may be understood, in a mystical sense, of the sea of this world, and the wicked inhabitants of it, who are as the troubled sea, and cannot rest, casting up mire and dirt, reproaching and blaspheming God and man; and particularly of tyrannical princes and potentates, who are like the proud waters and raging waves of the sea; but the Lord on high is mightier than they, and can and does restrain their wrath and rage, so that his people have nothing to fear from them; see ( Psalms 124:3-5 ) ( 46:1-4 ) .

Psalms 89:9 In-Context

7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and terrible above all that are round about him?
8 O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as thou art, O LORD, with thy faithfulness round about thee?
9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, thou stillest them.
10 Thou didst crush Rahab like a carcass, thou didst scatter thy enemies with thy mighty arm.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine; the world and all that is in it, thou hast founded them.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.