Ode to an Ocean Wave

Thursday   11-12-15   San Salvador, El Salvador

Scripture reading:    Job 37 - 38    1 Cor 12

S=Scripture O=Observation A=Application P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  Job 38:8-11 "Who defined the boundaries of the sea as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and thick darkness?  For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.  I said, 'Thus far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!'  NLT

O.  Each of Job’s friends has spoken.  They have majestic things to say, filled with truths, but bringing no comfort to our suffering friend, Job.  Finally God Himself joins the conversation.  He spells out the majesty of His creation and fills two entire chapters with questions that no one can answer.

A.  I was born in Portland, Oregon only a few hours travel to the great Pacific Ocean.  It’s beaches always were our choice for vacations.  We could not wait until we turned that last curve and the ocean came within sight.  I learned to love its pristine beauty and respect the dangers of its tremendous power.  As the sun would set I would climb a large rock that juts out into the huge waves and I would sing to Jesus as the breakers crashed into spray before my wondering eyes. 

P.  Father God, Creator of all these marvels, somehow I could see and appreciate Your art in the panorama of the sea.  Yet as the years progressed, I learned more about Your oceans and now realize that I was barely touching the surface, for below its shining waves are millions of hidden secrets still waiting to be discovered.  How small I feel, how fragile, how insignificant before the advance of a powerful ocean wave... and how grateful to know that I am being held in the protective palm of the hand of its Creator!  And somehow, Lord, I see myself, my hopes, my life... hidden in this poem that I wrote so many years ago.

Amen.  

Ode to an Ocean Wave

by Ralph W. Hiatt  March 1971

Conceived in dark unfathomed depths

Beneath a distant storm

You surface gently, rising now

To take your unique form.

The forces deep within you

Thrust forward, upward, higher!

You lift your foam-crowned head with joy

And fill the air with laughter.

It seems you’re reaching for the sky

With tiny couplets waiting.

You catch a million sunlight beams

A sea of stars creating.

Your shining crest, your crystal walls,

Your painted emerald towers,

All move in perfect rhythm to

The music of your powers.

Your head is bending toward the shore

Your dreams, your goals announcing.

You hope to sweep across the sands

And touch that distant mountain.

Your open jaws send forth a roar

That frightens living creatures.

No force on earth can stop you now.

All flee your awesome features.

Then with a sound that rends the air

You cast your powers shoreward.

Sand pipers spread their wings and rise

To clear a path before you.

You wash ashore a mighty swath

Of trembling shining pebbles.

And driftwood lifts and moves on up

To higher, safer levels.

Your waters push up slopes of sand.

Until they reach their limit.

Your mark is painted on the beach

For all the world to see it.

But suddenly you’re swept away

Drawn by an unseen force...

To form a part of that great sea,

Unfathomed depths, your source.