This is part of the New Song Series—short choruses I’ve been writing from Scripture, meant to encourage, steady the heart, and point us back to God.
“The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.” (Psalm 93)
Isn’t there something deeply familiar in these words?
Floods rising? Voices and opinion growing louder? Noise that feels overwhelming?
Many trace this psalm back to the time of King Hezekiah, when the dominant Assyrian army stood at the walls of Jerusalem. The Assyrian envoy was sent to deliver an ingenious, intimidating speech designed to bring about surrender without arms. His words are cutting, strategic, and aimed at shattering any hope the people have left. The soldiers on the wall, the people in the city, the King himself were faced with a decision. (Read this story here)
The voice of Assyria was not just a threat. It was psychological warfare. A deliberate attempt to break morale, stir fear, and strip away hope.
The floods had lifted up their voice.
And in many ways, they still do.
Today, the noise looks different—but it feels the same. Voices everywhere, opinions everywhere, pressure to conform, fear of the consequences, so much confusion.
A world that constantly speaks, and often loudly, against the truth of God, against His ways, against the hope found in Christ.
The floods are still rising.
But Psalm 93 doesn’t end there.
“Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty.”
This is the turning point. The psalm doesn’t deny the noise, it doesn’t pretend the floods aren’t real, it doesn’t hide from the social and moral realities.
It simply call us to lift our eyes higher: Higher than the voices, higher than the fear, higher than the moment in which we find ourselves.
The Lord is mightier: Not slightly stronger, not just enough to get us through.
Mightier.
And this is where our hope can settle - not in the quieting of every voice around us - but in the unshakable truth of who He is.
The same Lord who reigns above the floods is the One who has made Himself known to us in Jesus Christ.
He came down, he bore our sin, He rose again.
And because of that, we can rise up with Him. We are not left to be dragged down by every rising tide of fear, doubt, or confusion. Rather we have something steady to rise up on, something to bring our eyes higher than they have ever dared to look.
“Your testimonies are very sure…” (Psalm 93)
His Word stands true, his truth holds firm, and his promises remain intact.
This is the anchor we need for our souls in a world where everything feels unstable, unreliable and pretty much upside down. Our anchor is in Him. And I think it is fitting to mention the words from Isaiah 40 and penned later by the Apostle Peter:1
The grass withers. The flowers fade. But the Word of the Lord stands forever.
So when the floods rise up (which they certainly will) let the notes of this song remind us that He is mightier, and together we can sing of hope in times of despair, and of love in times of hate.
Be encouraged friends, take these words with you this week. Sing them when you find your heart overwhelmed, and together let’s hold to what is true.
Isaiah 40:7-8
The voice said, “Cry out!” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
1 Peter 1: 21 - 24
He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS, AND ALL THE GLORY OF MAN AS THE FLOWER OF THE GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND ITS FLOWER FALLS AWAY, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
