"Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud
waves be stayed."--_Job 38:11._
WHAT glorious and wonderful things God has made! Did you ever see the
sea? There it is--a great vast space, all water, looking green near us,
but blue further off--always heaving up and down. The waves rise, and
then ripple along, and burst with a white edge of bubbles of foam.
A great space that had been left dry gets covered up with water again,
and where you were walking just now is quite deep water. What is this
called? The tide. Well, what will the tide do in proper time? Will it
come rolling in over the beach, and cover up the land? No; presently
each will turn. Each wave will be a little less high than the last,
till it will have gone back again and left the beach uncovered as
before. Why does the tide do this? It is because God so wonderfully
contrived this earth and sea, that the waters should rise and go back.
He made the sand the bound of the sea, and said, "Hitherto shalt thou
come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." So,
you know, we sing in the Psalm every Sunday--
"The sea is His, and He made it:
His hands prepared the dry land."