Jeremiah 5:22

(Verse 22 onward) So you will not fear, says the Lord, and you will not be in pain before me? (or will you fear?) I have set the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree that will not pass. And the waves of the sea will be disturbed, and they will not be able to pass through it.

And again God demanded from the Jews the fear of Himself by the hand of Jeremiah, and reproached them by the testimony of the dumb things in nature, which, though silent, trembled at the fear of Him, while the Jews despised His commandments. "Fear ye …

Through all the story of waters be mindful of that first word, "Let the waters be gathered." It was necessary for them to flow that they might reach their own place. Then, being in the places appointed, they were to remain by themselves and not to advance further. For this reason, according to the saying of Ecclesiastes, "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea does not overflow." It is through the divine command that waters flow, and it is due to that first legislation, "Let the waters be gathered into one place," that the sea is enclosed within boundaries. For fear that the flowing water, spreading beyond the beds that hold it, always passing on and filling up one place after another, should continuously flood all the lands, it was ordered to be gathered into one place. Therefore, the sea, frequently raging with the winds and rising up in waves to towering heights, whenever it merely touches the shores breaks its onrush into foam and retires. "Will you not then fear me, says the Lord? I have set the sand as a bound for the sea." With the weakest of all things, sand, the sea, irresistible in its violence, is bridled.

When I say "we," I do not refer to human power but to the grace of God, who in the weakness of people shows forth his own power. This the prophet, speaking in the person of the Lord, says, "Will not you, then, fear me? I have set the sand as the boundary for the sea." For by this weakest and most contemptible of all things, sand, the mighty One has bound the great and ponderous sea. Therefore, since our condition is somewhat similar, it would follow that some of the true brethren should be sent continuously from your charity to visit us in our afflictions and that affectionate letters should come more frequently to us, on the one hand to strengthen our zeal, and on the other to correct us if we fail in any respect. Indeed, we do not deny that we are subject to many faults, since we are people and are living in the flesh.

The vessel was severely tossed by the violence of the tempest and the breaking of the waves. And along with the ship, the faith of the disciples also was tossed, so to speak, by similar agitations. But Christ, whose authority extends over all, immediately arose. He at once appeased the storm, restrained the blasts of wind, quieted their fear and yet further proved by his actions that he is God at whom all created things tremble and quake and to whose nods is subject the very nature of the elements. He rebuked the tempest, and Matthew says that the manner of the rebuke was with God-like authority. He tells us that our Lord said to the sea: "Peace! Be still!" What can there be more grand than this in majesty? Or what can equal its sublimity? Appropriately worthy of God is the word and the might of the commandment, so that we too may utter the praise written in the book of Psalms: "You rule the power of the sea. You still the turbulence of its waves." He too has himself said somewhere by one of the holy prophets, "Why do you not fear me," says the Lord, "nor tremble at my presence? I who have set the sand as the bound of the sea, a commandment forever, and it has not passed it." For the sea is subject to the will of him who made all creation and is, as it were, placed under the Creator's feet, varying its motions at all times according to his good pleasure and yielding submission to his lordly will.