The Voice of the Lord ~ Psalm 29

Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty,
give unto the LORD glory and strength.
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto His name;
worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters:
the God of glory thundereth:
the LORD is upon many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars;
yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness;
the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve,
and discovereth the forests:
and in His temple doth everyone speak of His glory.
The LORD sitteth upon the flood;
yea, the LORD sitteth King forever.

The LORD will give strength unto His people;
the LORD will bless His people with peace.

Here in Florida we get a lot of thunderstorms. In fact, I heard the rumble of thunder every day last week, even though I did not necessarily always see the rain. And I hear the distant rumble of thunder even now as I write this.

Thunderstorms are very powerful. They strike awe into my heart—and fear when I get caught outside in the middle of one. But not a single clap of thunder do I hear, not a single shot of lightning do I see but what I am reminded of the power and majesty of God. Evidently, the same was true for David, for in this psalm he describes the strength of the Lord by the strength of the storm. Phrase after phrase shows the great majesty and mighty power of our Lord God. And then he closes with “The Lord will give strength unto His people.” Wow! Do you think He has enough strength for all of us? He certainly does! The Lord is infinitely mightier than the fiercest storm, and He is the source of all our strength.

But there’s more. David also tells us, “The Lord will bless His people with peace.” Peace in the midst of the storm. How wonderful! And how very like our God! It reminds me of when Jesus had sent the disciples ahead of Him by boat to Bethsaida. They were experienced fishermen, but that night they could not control the ship because the wind was strong and the waves were high. Then Jesus came walking on the water. At first they were terrified because they thought they saw a ghost, but He said, “Be of good cheer; it is I, be not afraid.” And as soon as they received Him into the boat, the wind ceased (Mark 6:45-51). Jesus rebuked the wind another time as well, and it became calm immediately. So we see that as strong as the storm is, our Lord is stronger. And He desires to empower each of us with His strength while also filling us with His peace. There’s a children’s song that goes, “With Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm.” And that is absolutely true.

ℜ ℜ ℜ

Written July 23, 2017

Photo taken at Rainbow Falls in Sapphire Valley, North Carolina, 2011. While I would love to have a photo of an awesome Florida thunderstorm to go along with this psalm, I prefer to enjoy their majesty from the safety of the great indoors, so you’ll have to settle for the majesty of a mighty waterfall instead. I took this photo while lying down on the rocks near the bottom and looking up at the water as it poured over the top of the crest. The photo below is the same waterfall from a different perspective.