Glory to God

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Scripture: Psalm 29:1-11 (NIV)

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.

 

Devotion:

 

                Psalm 29 is a psalm of worship and praise to our God. The psalm expresses the true majesty of God seen in nature. It calls on humankind to acknowledge the ultimate power and control that the Lord has over all nature. Anyone who has been on a large body of water when a storm blows up tossing your ship like a toy boat in a bathtub knows the power that the psalmist is describing here. One suddenly realizes that nature and Nature’s God are not safe and tame things to be toyed with.

 

                One does not have to be on a body of water to realize God’s awesome power over nature. Once while on a hike into the forest land surrounding Vancouver, British Columbia a storm blew up and we thought that we were going to blow away with it. The mighty cedar forest we were in sounded as if it might come crashing down on us at any minute. The safety of the forest was suddenly turned into a danger zone.

 

                I even once parachuted out of a perfectly sound aircraft. It was the feeling of wonder and fear setting in all at once. Dropping at such an alarming rate of speed was so addicting that my tandem diver body had to get my attention that it was time to open the chute. Drifting down peacefully makes you wonder what fear you experienced stepping out of the plane a minutes ago.

 

                These and other experiences have shown me personally the glory of God that the psalmist is writing about here in this psalm. I have become much more sensitive to the call of God in nature. God also speaks in quieter ways too. As He did with Elijia at Mount Horeb. That still small whisper can grab our attention if we are able to sit quietly to hear it. Let us give glory to God who speaks in loud and soft ways to let us know of His love and care for us and for all creation.

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