Psalm 29

⁰³          The voice of the Lord resounds over the seas;

the God of glory thunders,

[His voice] echoes over the oceans.

⁰⁴          The voice of the Lord is powerful;

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁰⁵          The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;

Yes! the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁰⁶                      He makes the mountains of Lebanon skip like a calf,

and Mount Hermon like a young bull.

⁰⁷          The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.

⁰⁸          The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁰⁹          The voice of the Lord shatters [the forest]

and strips the [trees] bare.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A Sevenfold Invitation

For the Lord’s Day:  the 17^th of July 2005

Introduction:  There is a graduation poem, that sings of a future where graduates may be faced with many storms of life.  And in the midst of those storms, they are encouraged to hold their heads up high.  In almost the same theme, David celebrates the mighty power of God revealed in the ordinary storms of nature.  He will of course end with a similar admonition to recognize the reality of nature being under the restraint of the Creator God.  “Glory,” will be the encouraged response to the manifold revelation that nature’s God is in control.

 

I am reminded of a substitute teacher, who was challenged by a statement that the ordinary teacher didn’t do things in the way being advocated.  The teacher simply announced that, since the ordinary teacher wasn’t there and he was, by virtue of his presence, he did indeed own the room!  I have used that reasoning several times in my own teaching career!

 

How does the Apostle Paul frame it in his letter to the Romans?  “[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

 

David too, in the nineteenth psalm celebrates the general revelations given in and through the witness of nature.  In that same psalm, he also testifies to the specific nature of the revelation of God’s Spirit as well.  But just as those who wandered in the desert – some hear the voice of God and others note only the noise of thunder.

 

After the open invitation of the first three verses, David here is specifically and pointedly identifying those natural events which should call forth awe and wonder from watching worldlings, who other wise might miss the implications in and through the storms that threaten life and limb even as they demonstrate the mighty power of God.

 

Development:  There are in these verses seven specific observations of David, and each begins with the phrase:  “The voice of the Lord.”  And just as I mentioned earlier about the substitute owning the class room, so here is the Lord announcing by David’s estimate: the universe!  In the first invitation of verse three, David trades on the movement of a Mediterranean storm front.  “The voice of the Lord resounds over the seas; the God of glory thunders, [His voice] echoes over the oceans.”

 

Now, let us be careful here, some would see primeval waters here, as well as both heavenly and earthly.  But given, the long understood identity as a nature psalm, we should be content that our psalmist only notes that the storm front can be heard as it rushes towards land.  And as we all know from experience, the sound of thunder rolls and echoes across the whole landscape.  The black clouds frame the landscape and flashes of lightning precede the resounding cannonade.  There is nothing more in this poetic trinity of observant notes by the psalmist.

 

Even though the storm is moving towards land, still the clouds, lightning and thundering is visibly at sea.  And what a vast panorama must the awesome sight be indeed.  From a place such as Mount Carmel – vast indeed could the sweep on the horizon be!  And David, feeling very small and insignificant senses the power and might of the Creator God.  In today’s world, movie goers need the quiet vista of space to work up a sense of the endless nature of the creative order.  But no matter whether it be the storm tossed seas or the swirling of galaxies – still the creative order must demonstrate the power and might of the One who made them and thereby the One who shows the grandeur of His person in the awesome nature of the natural order.

 

“The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.”  All of this, David is sensing and even as he watches, he realizes the mighty power of the God who has let loose the clouds of the storm.  That the God of heaven is above and beyond the storm is an accepted fact.  And David appraises the natural flow of events as further evidence of the majesty of God.  And by majesty, we mean the otherworldly nature of nature’s God and Creator.  Just as some people take delight in their hero’s being able to make 3,000 hits – so David’s hero is of much greater substance!  All powerful of total in His majesty is the Lord God of heaven and earth, land and sea and even the weather front obeys His voice.

 

In verses five and six the storm breaks onto the coast of northern Palestine.  It seems centered on the hills of Lebanon.  “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; Yes! the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

 

The winds and thunder ascend the heights, the full fury of the storm breaks upon the forests of Lebanon.  There is a hurricane of destruction and the mighty trees in the mountain are split asunder.  And David is thinking:  if the Lord can break in pieces four to five hundred year old trees in the force of His wind, ought not all the mighty one’s bow their knee before Him?  In verse six, not only the trees, but the eternal mountains quake and tremble as the earth moves according to our Father's will.  Whether, this is an earthquake, or gale force winds, the text does not tell.  I remember storms that shook our home, and there are countless branches blown out of our trees.  Our yard was a disaster area after last winter’s ice storm.  On at least one occasion, the hillside next to us melted into a river of mud.  Both fields, east and west of our property are fully four to six inches lower than our own land.  Only because they were caught plowed, harrowed and compacted for planting, when an untimely storm carried tons of dirt away. Look at the poetic images here in these splendid verses, “the mountains skip like calves and Mount Hermon like a young bull.”

 

But the storm is not finished, in verse seven we read of the fiery dance of lightning bolts, tearing trees asunder and perhaps even splitting a rock or two in half.  “The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.”  You know, many of the heathen are particularly scared of lightning.  One commentator reports for us that the Roman Emperors Augustus and Caligula were absolutely frightened by thunder storms to the point of hiding under their beds.  Another of the ancients, Horace by name, confesses that he was reclaimed from atheism by the terror of thunder and lightning.  Martin Luther, cowered in fear from lightning, as did Sergeant York of American military fame.  One of my own neighbors was converted by lightning.  But, it was the second time he was hit, not the first – because as he admitted: he was a slow learner and did not see the hand of God in the first bolt!

 

In verse eight we see the storm moving down out of the mountains into the desert.  There, even though the damage is not so extensive, the desert is still shaken.  “The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.”

 

Application:  Verse nine is difficult to translate.  Some translators offer the observation that God "twists the oaks" and others suppose that He "causes the hinds to calve".  Whichever translation is hidden in the original language let us take note that the power of the Lord is at work in hidden ways.  Sometimes, just when all seems lost in the tragedies of life, new opportunities suddenly open up.

 

As I look into this storm, I prefer this translation of the seventh invitation of David:  “The voice of the Lord shatters [the forest] and strips the [trees] bare.”  Now what good can come of that you may wonder?  Many of the woods in my neighborhood remind me of the colonial geography called the Fallen Timbers.  It was an area where Mad Anthony Wayne defeated the forces of Tecumseh.  Fallen Timbers, it was named because of a destructive storm some years before the battle.

 

Last winter, as I drove around the county, I really wondered what the woods would look like when spring opened up the new sprouts and leaves.  Many ancient trees now have hundreds of new nubbins, that will one day branch and twist to various angles to gain the precious life of the sun.

 

So too, would David have us realize that the storms of life have their purpose and that in all things God is working things out for the good of His people. Let us therefore remember then that this spiritually understood storm of David not only shakes the mighty and proud Caesars but also causes spiritual birth in the case of Horace.  Is this not the case with all natural phenomena.  Some people are not affected spiritually towards repentance and faith, while for others many events prove crucial to their salvation!

 

David’s witness is simple and easy to understand here:  God has spoken through all manner of storms and even though there be death and destruction, still thereby in the awesome demonstration of His eternal power – some are saved when they see His hand in the laws of nature.  A man I know of, told me how he and his daughters were sitting at the end of a lane, waiting for a bus.  Suddenly, a storm blew up and a tree by the side of the lane fell in front of his truck.  He put his truck in reverse, but before he could back up, another tree fell behind him, blocking any escape.  However, the tree that remained stood firm.  Had it fallen on the cab of his truck, he and his daughters might have been badly injured.  It remained alone of the three, standing against the storm.  When he asked me what he should think of such an event, I offered the witness of David,  and I asked him if he saw the merciful hand of God, or if he would now hear the voice of the Father?  Have you seen Hand, have you heard His voice?  Praise the Lord, even as David does, if you have.  And the next time a storm blows up, look at it with David’s insights.  I believe you will sense more than wind, rain and lightning!  Amen.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.

http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel029b.htm

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go to:  http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/