God: The Furious Force

Psalm 29

A psalm of David.

 ¹ Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings,
   ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
² Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
   worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

 ³ The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
   the God of glory thunders,
   the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
⁴ The voice of the LORD is powerful;
   the voice of the LORD is majestic.
⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
   the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶ He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
   Sirion like a young wild ox.
⁷ The voice of the LORD strikes
   with flashes of lightning.
⁸ The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
   the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
⁹ The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
   and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

 ¹⁰ The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
   the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
¹¹ The LORD gives strength to his people;
   the LORD blesses his people with peace.

This chapter is the epitome of powerful. If you're anything like me, you actually picture all of these incredible natural phenomena happening at once: God's presence FULLY upon the earth, effecting anything and everything around Him. Trees bend and break, waters foam and froth, skies darken and flash, the sun blazes brighter than ever before. Nature is alive with the presence of the LORD. 

I will want to sit down with David one day and discuss this Psalm with him. What was he feeling when he wrote it? Was he terrified of God? In awe? Expectant? All three? 

What we certainly do know is that David had a real, tangible understanding of his God. The Father was not far off on a distant ethereal plane, muted by time and space. He was real, present, and alive. David experienced his walk with the LORD, and was not content with simply surviving it. 

Are we connected to God the way David is in this chapter? Or do we mentally confine God to the past, assuming his best work was in the 1st Century? I think the challenge of this chapter for us today is this: God is a furious force that joyfully created this world, lovingly bends it to His will, and graciously carries us home when our time in it is over. 

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; 

   worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness."

Amen.