Power

Job 38:8-11
[8] "Or who shut in the sea with doors,
when it burst forth from the womb;
[9] when I made clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
[10] and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
[11] and said, `Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?

This was in the Sunday readings today. It struck me again, as it did when someone explained it to me before. The sea was once regarded as a God. Or like Poseidon, there was a "god of the sea" just as we believe there are "datuk" protecting land and forests and rocks.

But here in Job, and more so in Genesis, the world and the powers of Nature are depicted as mere objects or creations of god. God says "let there be light", and there was light. God spoke, and Sun, Moon, and stars come into being, all these things that were deified by ignorant man. The sea, that is worshipped and feared by mariners is more like a frisky baby to God, who wraps it in a cloth of clouds, and sets barriers which it cannot cross.

We have become paganised. We have been entertained by superheroes, wizards, and witches so much, we have begun to believe in the powers of Nature, of spirits, of witch doctors, or bomohs.

The god who made all these, to whom all these belong, and to whom all these bow in worship, sits there in the tabernacle. Who else should you ask for help?