DAILY CONTEMPLATION

February 12, 2026 ~ Meshir 5, 1742

The Power that made everything made gates and bolts for the sea, made it enter and enclosed it;
[He] set there fine sand as a border and the sea did not pass beyond it.
He divided them and granted places for the both of them, the seas and the dry land,
so that each might keep to its own place.
The raging waves of the sea were raised up like heaps,
but the sand was spread there and they were restrained and did not flow over.
The sea was thus harnessed like a wild horse,
by the reins of the sand they were stilled and stand as if subdued.
God, the Almighty One, by means of a small thing, manifested His power,
to make the world perceive just how awesome is His command:
He set the sand that was spread there as a fence for a great sea,
and it overcomes (or encloses) all those waves that are bound by it.
For sand is incapable of standing against the seas unless the signal of the Godhead were to forbid them.
By something so minute He sets down a law and all the seas that fight against it with their storms cannot break it.
For sand is porous while the command of the Godhead is solid;
and by His command the sand stands fast and does not decompose…
Between the sea and the dry land the Creator placed peace,
so that as long as the world existed there would be peace on their borders.
That Maker who had separated those places (Gen 1:9)
has now united them that they might view each other as equals.
St Jacob of Sarug