Psalm 29

And in His temple,

             every one speaks of His Glory!

¹⁰             The Lord sat enthroned over the [Great] Flood;

            the Lord is enthroned as king from eternity.

¹¹             May the Lord give strength to His people!

may the Lord bless His people with peace!

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Glory

For the Lord’s Day:  the 24^th of July 2005

Introduction:  Certainly, we may affirm that the whole world is a temple that cannot contain the awesome glory of God.  All nature speaks the glories of His praise.  And even in the eye of the storm may every believer may sense His awesome power and glory.  And yet, even as Calvin notes:  “God’s voice fills the whole world, and spreads itself to its farthest limits; but the prophet declares that his glory is celebrated only in his church, because God not only speaks intelligibly and distinctly there, but also there gently allures the faithful to himself.”

 

And so, having admonished the worldly to see and hear the voice of the Lord in the great power of the storm, David returns his focus to the tabernacle precincts where God’s people are more apt to hear His voice.  Ever and always, this is the work of the church, to witness and work towards convincing the world that our God is not only the One God, but also the all powerful Prime Mover behind the whole of creation.  But, this is our daily work, and on the Lord’s Day we may retire from that continuous calling and humbly give glory, honor and praise to the One God who has spoken to us and made Himself known.

 

Development:  Therefore, we may understand David, in these last few lines to be speaking to the choir, as we might have it in our day and time.  What was unintelligible to the worldly when the winds swept aside the geography of nature, that awesome presence is known by all of those who take refuge of their natural fears in the Temple of the Lord.

 

Ah, and here we are getting to a very important point because, immediately after this transitional line, we sense the primal fear, if I may use a psychobabble term – for the Great Flood which once swept away all of humanity except for Noah and his family.  As we all know, hundreds of tribal and ethnic groups have their own version of the Great Flood, all transcribed into the memories of the whole human race.  And while, those who are covered by the Covenant of Grace know full well the promise made to Noah, the worldly have no such assurance.  The same God who destroyed a world of sinners may well indeed have it in for them, since they know all too well that they are outside the spiritual kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The first line of verse ten has a special meaning when referenced to the words used to describe the Great Flood.  In fact we should translate this line in this manner:  ‘The Lord sat enthroned over the [Great] Flood.”  Martin Luther even translated this text in these words:  “The Lord sitteth to prepare a Flood.”

 

And it is only those who fabricate modern myths, who try to dismiss the truth of what God did for Noah and the family of God in antiquity.  But still, as I mentioned earlier, the wicked count their myths as only one story among many, and deep in the recesses of their mind, they know in fact that there is much to fear in the context of lightning, storm and powerful winds.  We have only to watch the news to see the worldly follow every natural nuance of the hurricanes being formed at sea.  Every movement of wind and wave within their boundary is considered, so as to warn the southern residents where and when to seek high ground!

 

Years ago, an untracked hurricane killed five thousand people off the central coast of the American beaches.  Today, if a similar storm were untracked and allowed to hit an unprepared population, the casualties could possibly be ten times the earlier toll.  This same lack of preparedness, this same lack of an effective warning system is what multiplied the deaths and sufferings last winter in Southern Asia.

 

The worldly of course, would readily listen to such scientific forecasts and take heed any request to move to safer territory when it comes to the storms of nature.  But, David’s early warning notices in the body of this Psalm, even though they be every bit as factual and important, his words doe indeed fall on deaf ears!

 

The worldly do not know what David and all his spiritual kin know for certain:  “the Lord is enthroned as king from eternity.”  Thus, every storm – including the “perfect storm,” if I may use a worldly movie term – every storm belongs to the Lord God of heaven and earth.  And if he chooses to use such to carry away a portion of humanity, thereby are others warned time after time, that their days are numbered.

 

Delitzsch notes the meaning here in this context.  The Lord, according to our poet, “sat (upon His throne) at the Flood (to execute it), and sits (enthroned) … since that time … as King forever, inasmuch as He rules down here upon earth … in wrath and in mercy, judging and dispensing blessing.”

 

Application:  I can all too readily remember the words of two worldly men, whose worldly attitude was at least moderated with the realization that the God of heaven could do with them as He chose.  However, neither was of the mind to submit this life to the divine order or to recognize His claim upon their present life on earth.  Sadly, both perished and while they knew part of the truth, they did not guess the best part!

 

Like Esau of antiquity, they both remained unblessed along with countless others since the dawn of time.  It should not be surprising then at the ending to which David comes in this beautiful nature psalm.

 

“May the Lord give strength to His people!

may the Lord bless His people with peace!”

 

The special blessing here, in the context of this whole Psalm is the fact that David and all God’s people have indeed heard the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and by the power of that Spirit drawing them into the Kingdom of Heaven, they are entitled share in the pleasant glories of the kingdom present and that of the world to come.

 

It is to this timely end that the psalmist begs for strength to all the people of God, those claimed by the Almighty powerful God of the Storm and all Creation.  Calvin says the same, but in more weighty language:  “Although God exhibits his visible power to the view of the whole world indiscriminately, yet he exerts it in a peculiar manner in behalf of his elect people.”  Therefore the “strength” imparted here implies “every thing necessary for the preservation of the life of the godly.”

 

And if that were not enough, David begs that we all might be blessed with the peace that passes understanding.: the peace of knowing that we are His and He is ours.  I recently heard a story of a man converted while watching the movie:  Gods & Generals.  It was Stonewall Jackson’s testimony that he “felt as safe and secure on the battlefield as sleeping at home in his bed”, that caught the man’s attention.  The more he studied and considered the matter, the more he was drawn into the Kingdom of the Spirit. 

 

During our course of study on the themes of this glorious nature psalm, I had mentioned the graduation song that encouraged young people to hold their heads up high, no matter the battering that might come through the storms of life.  While that advice is worldly to a large extent, still the premise is not all wrong if in doing that the person looks to heaven in the midst of strife and gains a glimpse of David’s God.  And thereby is the purpose of David’s instruction.

 

In that one time popular movie:  The Perfect Storm, after the small, frail fishing boat was overwhelmed in the mighty flood, the movie cut to a funeral service in the small fishing community at home.   The grand hymn treasured by honest English speaking seamen for a century and a half was being sung:

 

“Eternal Father Strong to save,

whose arm doth bind the restless wave,

who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep

its own appointed limits keep. 

O hear us when we cry to thee

for those in peril on the sea.”

 

May the words of our Psalm, as well as the words of that immortal hymn be engraved on many hearts who are turning to the Lord in the midst of life storms that entangle them.  And may we give witness to the God of Peace as we comfort those coming through the storms of life.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

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

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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