These days, it feels like I’m surrounded with chaos. Not every day, perhaps, and on some days more than others. But you probably know the feeling. You think you’ve got everything locked down, and are ready to relax a bit. Then you get an email, a phone call. Something else has happened. Something new has broken; something old has broken loose. Eventually, you get to the point where you’re always a bit on the alert, always halfway expecting the next bit of bad news.

It can feel like we’re flailing in a sea of trouble. The waves are relentless and sometimes towering, crashing around us. Will we drown in the chaos?

The metaphor of the terror of the raging sea is an ancient one. Indeed, for the ancients, it’s more than a metaphor. We live in an age in which many of us never set foot on a boat, and when we do, it’s for recreational purposes. To travel long distances, we fly in air-conditioned comfort (assuming the flight doesn’t get canceled!) and relax with a book or movie.

Not so, obviously, in biblical times. Sea voyages were necessary but more dangerous than they are today, with travelers even more at the mercy of the wind and waves. Think of the terrified sailors who threw Jonah into the sea. Or Jesus and his disciples in the midst of a storm, the latter in a state of panic and fearing for their lives. Or Paul’s perilous voyage to Rome, which ended in shipwreck.

Moreover, the sea was a potent symbol of chaos in ancient religions; the gods established their sovereignty, in part, by conquering the sea. You can hear echoes of this in the creation story of Genesis 1. And in the Psalms, the sea is often a metaphor for chaos, or more directly, for the psalmist’s troubles (see especially Ps 69). These words were given so that God’s people might borrow them in worship and prayer to express their own lament to God.

All of this helps us appreciate what’s happening in Psalm 93, a poem of a mere five verses. The psalm opens with a ringing declaration of the majesty and sovereignty of God, the king and creator:

The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty;
    the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
    indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
Your throne was established long ago;
    you are from all eternity. (Ps 93:1-2, NIV)

Note the solemn repetition: the psalmist tells us twice that God wears his majesty like a royal robe. He is also girded like a warrior, with strength. The eternal reign of God is the foundation of the world. This God, in other words — the majestic one, the sovereign one, the mighty one — is the one in whom and through whom the world is established.

But chaos also thunders and threatens:

The seas have lifted up, LORD,
    the seas have lifted up their voice;
    the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
    mightier than the breakers of the sea—
    the LORD on high is mighty. (vss. 3-4)

Again, the repetition, this time in prayer to God: “The seas have lifted up…the seas have lifted up…the seas have lifted up…” The roar of the waves is deafening. What the NIV translates as “pounding waves” is a rare word, used only once in the entire Old Testament; it derives from a verb that can mean “to crush.”

The “voice” of the sea and its waves is loud, frightening (NIV’s “thunder” is actually a repetition of the word “voice,” which could also be translated as “sound” or “noise”) — but God, the LORD who is high and exalted, is mightier by far.

Remembering this, the psalmist is comforted:

Your statutes, LORD, stand firm;
    holiness adorns your house
    for endless days. (vs. 5)

This final verse circles back to the firmness with which the eternally sovereign LORD established the world itself. And with that reassurance, even God’s statutes (or “testimonies”) and the temple are reminders of God’s holiness.

Chaos stands in the middle of this short psalm. But that chaos is bracketed — metaphorically, kept in check — by reminders of God’s mighty and majesty. Thus, I wonder: when we’re dog-paddling in choppy waters, can we see past the waves to one who is sovereign over all of them?