SEA

Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface, to an average depth of 2.3 miles – a volume of water estimated at 329 million cubic miles (11 times the volume of dry land).  The Mariana Trench, halfway between the Pacific islands of Guam and Yap, plunges to a depth of 36,200 feet, more than six and a half miles straight down.  If the world’s tallest mountain, Everest, were to be thrown into this watery hole, you’d still have to take a submarine down over 1.3 miles to reach the summit (and at those depths, the hull pressure on your submarine would amount to over 1,000 atmospheres).

Of course, the ocean contains a lot more than water.  If you were to remove all of its salt, you would harvest 50,000,000,000,000,000 tons of the stuff –enough to cover the entire planet in a layer 150 feet thick.  Sea water also holds more gold than exists on land, 100 times as much as humans have mined throughout the world history.

The size and power of the sea awes us, and rightly so.  Tsunamis, or tidal waves, may reach heights in excess of 150 feet, and travel as fast as 450 miles per hour.  In 1946, an earthquake in the Aleutian Trench in the north Pacific triggered a tsunami that, four and a half hours later killed 178 people in Honolulu, Hawaii – 2,000 miles away.  Even average waves the width of freighter carry ten times more power than is needed to drive the ship.  If you could somehow harness the energy potential between the differing temperatures (about 27 degrees Farenheit) of the upper levels of the sea and its frigid depths, we could supply all the world’s current energy needs. 

AND YET…

At a mere blast from the nostrils of God, the deep valley s of the sea lie exposed (Psalm 18:15).  We may think the sea vast, but He can pour it all into little jars (Psalm 33:7).  He quiets the raging sea with a single word (Psalm89:9; Mark4:39) and though the waves may roll and roar, they cannot cross the boundaries He has set for them (Job 38:10-11; Proverbs 8:29; Jeremiah 5:22).  The oceans can only hint at the power of God:

“THE SEAS HAVE LIFTED UP, O 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.” 

(Psalm 93:3-4)

“How Majestic is Thy Name”, 2001.  www.newleafpress.net