confirmation of...what???

With all this madness happening around me and the deep emotion being released from the inner core of my being, I frantically opened up my Bible to see if I could possibly find anything to bring confirmation or validation to all this. As I thumbed open the page, this was the very first line I read in that moment: “You have overwhelmed me with all your waves” (Ps. 88:7 NIV).

Byrd, Andy; Feucht, Sean (2010-09-01). Fire and Fragrance (Kindle Locations 1305-1308). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.

This excerpt has a context. The writer (the book has two co-authors, I'm not sure which one is writing here) was in Australia, and has walked to a beach, and has some kind of experience, which I seriously doubt was from God. One reason has to do with this verse that he thinks confirms what he heard in this experience.

First, there is simply the fact that he played the game of "Flip Open the Bible and Read the First Thing You See". Assuming that it really happened this way, that he simply opened up his Bible and, lo and behold, the first thing his eyes lighted upon was this verse fragment about waves, then...so what? There is no attempt to try to look at this sentence in context, there is no attempt to understand what it's really saying. What makes this in any way significantly different from, say, tarot cards or ouija boards? After all, even the Devil can take the Bible out-of-context to mislead someone, which is what happened when he tried to tempt Christ. No, this is simply a form of divination, which the Bible severely frowns upon.

Second, let's have some context. He's only looking at a part of the verse. Here is all of it, from the ESV.

7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

Well, that kind of puts a different take on things. "Waves" are related to "wrath". How about a bit more context.

88 O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!
3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

This isn't a happy Psalm. The one writing it, perhaps one of the Sons of Korah, is not having a good time. He's having problems, and serious ones. When he wrote that God's waves were overwhelming him, he wasn't thinking about a nice day at the beach and splashing around in the surf. He was writing about serious troubles, things that were drowning him.

If this verse is a confirmation of some vision you've had, you'd best be careful. If you think this verse is telling you that waves are coming, you may want to start doing some serious repenting, in the hope that maybe God will let those waves pass you by.