Verse 29. Though great be the noise of the roaring of the sea, great the inconstancy of the tumbling waves, great the looseness of the flowing waters; yet the voice of God's decree is easily heard by them, constant is their obedience unto God's commandment, firmly do they keep the bounds of His law. But in the noise of our disorders, little is God's Word heard by us, in the lightness of our hearts, much is the will of God slighted, in the looseness of our lives every way doth a careless regard of God's law spread itself, which could not but drown us in a sea of God's wrath, did not He who was when the bounds of the sea were decreed, purchase by the red sea of His blood a gracious pardon for us. . . . Fitly is God said to appoint the foundations of the earth only; for that alone founded the whole earth, no more was needful for it. But how little doth God's appointment prevail with man, a little piece of earth. How often are God's purposes in the means of salvation disappointed by him. To lay firm the foundations of grace in man's heart, the Eternal Wisdom, who was when the foundations of the earth were appointed, came down from Heaven, and here was pleased to work out His life thereby to accomplish the work of our redemption. And shall not this, then, make us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling?--_Jermin._ Verse 30. To Wisdom the work was no laborious task. She "sported," as it were, in the exuberance of her strength and might.--_Plumptre._ Verse 31. What was it that here attracted His interest? Man had been created in the image of God--free to stand or fall. This freedom was the perfection of his nature. His fall was permitted as the mysterious means of his higher elevation. His ruin was overruled for his greater security. This _habitable earth_ was to be the grand theatre of the work that should fill the whole creation with wonder and joy. Here the serpent's head was to be visibly bruised, the kingdom of Satan to be destroyed, "precious spoil to be divided with the strong" (Isa. liii. 12). Here was the Church to be framed, as the manifestation of His glory, the mirror of His Divine perfections (Ephes. iii. 10, 21). Considering the infinite cost at which He was to accomplish this work, the wonder is that He should have _endured_ it; a greater wonder that, ere one atom of the creation was formed--ere the first blossom had been put forth in Paradise, he should have _rejoiced_ in it.--_Bridges._