God’s Voice in the Thunder - Psalm 29
Introduction
David describes God riding the thunder storm. I’ve found that some Christians get uncomfortable with this kind of language. We modern people want to say, “Now, David God doesn’t ride a thunderstorm. It’s only a low pressure system.” We want David to say, “God is the chief meteorologist” or something. As people in the 21st century, we think that just because we have these scientific names and labels for things, that we’ve explained it. But that’s not necessarily true. I remember taking anatomy in high school and everyone assumed that the appendix didn’t do anything, which is why some guy named it the appendix.But now some researchers think it may help in releasing good bacteria in the body.
Now, back to thunderstorms, we Christians need to be more comfortable with the language of Scripture because we live in a magical world. Twice a day God paints beautiful masterpieces in the sky over this entire planet. And we only get to see the ones here in Laurens County. In God’s world, if you want to get food out of the seeds you buy at the store, you have to throw these seeds in the dirt. We live in an amazing world where God acts in predictable ways. So predictable that we can study His normal actions and call it science. But He sometimes likes to surprise us and we call it miracles.
The Passage
A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in holy array. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful, The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, “Glory!” The Lord sat as King at the flood; Yes, the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace. Psalm 29
Explain the Passage
This psalm begins with a call to worship. But instead of a church service, the audience is all creation. In verse 1, we see the angels should give God praise for His power and glory (v. 1). The phrase “sons of the mighty” is used for angelic beings. The congregation should give God praise for the glory of His name. They should worship in holy attire (v. 2).“Ascribe” (or give) is repeated three times indicating that the glory we give God is only for Him. David then walks out of the sanctuary to see God’s earthly throne room.
David uses the imagery of God’s power like a thunderstorm. It’s like seeing dark clouds gather on the horizon while you stand on the beach. According to David, God rides the thunderstorm that builds over the ocean that crashes on land (v.3). The angels sing giving God glory in verse 1, now God shows off His glory with His voice. God’s voice is powerful and worthy of a mighty king (v.4) God’s voice breaks the cedars of Lebanon (v.5). Lebanon was a neighboring country, known for their wood. God’s voice causes strongholds to run like animals run from lightening and thunder (v. 6). Sirion is Mount Hermon, in Northern Israel (Could be the mount of transfiguration in the gospels). The “skipping” refers to running for life, not strolling.God’s voice spews out fire (v.7). God’s voice shakes like an earthquake (v.8). Kadesh was the place in the wilderness that Israel lived for 38 years. David ends this section telling us that God’s voice brings forth life or destruction (v. 9). The “voice” of God is mentioned 7 times, but David never quotes what God says. God’s hum and whisper causes thunderstorms and our voice can only respond with “glory.” God is king over all acts of power, even floods, which reminds us of the flood in Genesis 6 (v.10). God will use that strength for His people and blesses them with peace (v. 11).
The Power to Bless
David describes in vivid detail the power of God. But the greatest act of power God displayed was on the cross. Each person’s sin deserves an eternity in hell. And each person sins countless times per day. That’s a lot of eternity and a lot of Hell. Jesus paid for all of your sin in less than a day on the cross. Not only for your sin, but all the Christians who have lived, who live now, and who will ever live.
Ascribe with Holy Attire
Gnosticism was one of the church’s earliest enemies. It was a way of thinking that separated the physical from the spiritual in an unbiblical way.Even today, some 2,000 years later, many of the church’s heresies and false teachings can trace their lineage back to Gnosticism. Again, the principle assertion for gnosticism is that the spiritual and physical aren’t connected.Most of the time, this results in a disdain for anything physical.
Today, Christians use the excuse of “well I wasn’t sinning in my heart” so I wasn’t sinning. We use this excuse for sins against God all the time but we know this doesn’t work in other areas of life. “Officer, I know it looks like I’m stealing all this money, but in my heart of hearts I’m trying to help the poor.” Christians today are so afraid of being labeled a hypocrite that we’ve allowed the world to play us. We know of Christians and churches where everyone dresses to the nines but their hearts are doing anything but worshipping God. Out of a fear of being that kind of hypocrite, we ran to the other ditch and made camp there. Now, the christians who really want to worship God think that they have to look like they just walked out of bed. But that’s just another form of hypocrisy. What’s true spiritually doesn’t match physically.
A spiritually healthy congregation gathers to worship in their “Sunday best” without sins like comparison and pride causing legalism. Just like a spiritually healthy wedding assembly dresses up for the occasion. In both circumstances, you are not the point, which is precisely the reason you dress for the sacred occasion. In George Orwell’s 1984, the world is under a tyrannical regime where Big Brother watches your every move. In this society, everyone dresses in coveralls. Orwell knew that if someone can control how you dress, then they can control you. If the world can convince your daughter to dress like show girl in Las Vegas, you can’t be surprised if one day she starts acting that way.
Since the 60’s, the world has convincing middle-class America to dress like peasants. Now, we see that the middle-class is shrinking and the peasant class is growing. David said in verse 2 that we should worship the Lord with Holy Clothes so that our actions can live up to the clothing.
Glory is not Arithmetic
It’s interesting in this Psalm that worshippers are told to give God glory 3 times and God shows off His glory seven times. We can never out worship God. We can never out give God. But He still commands it nonetheless.
Conclusion
Holiness should scare us. When Israel saw the holiness of God on Mt. Sinai, they were afraid. When we are afraid of the holiness of God we avoid the holiness of god through legalism or licentiousness. We try to control the holiness of God. But can the God of this Psalm be controlled God’s glory and holiness have no property lines. No surveyor has ever measured the end of God’s greatness. You can’t argue with the God who rides lightning.