Psalm 29

Serious thunder and lightening are impressive to observe. From a distance. To get caught up in a the middle of a powerful storm, to feel the danger of the moment as the earth shakes, to hear the loud boom of something from the sky following too quickly upon a flash of shocking light, this is a frightening experience. After the storm is over, a man can survey the damage to his property, noting the size of the limbs that have been brought down, and he can consider the power of the voice of the Lord.

Even the angels are called upon to make mention of glory and strength in their adoration of the Almighty. They know about the greatness of God. Because of this, they show respect for His Name. Why are men so blind as to carelessly toss about the Name of Jesus, who is the Word of God, the Voice of the Lord? They misunderstand the gifts of God's common grace and think that all must be well between them and God. But then they hear the voice of the Lord, and perhaps they wonder.

Back in the beginning of the days of creation, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. God said, “Let there be light!” We are told in the opening verses of John's gospel that the eternal Son of God was there in the beginning with God, and that it was through Him that all things were made. He is the Word. He is the Voice of the Lord.

To see a storm coming across the seas is a powerful reminder of our dependance upon the God who rules the wind and the waves. All that we can joyfully investigate and discover about meteorological science belongs to the realm of secondary causes. With the experience of age and suffering, men gain an increased appreciation of the providence of God. As people come to believe in Him and in His sovereign rule over all things, they recognize that He is the first Cause of all that we experience. His written Word powerfully confirms this. He is set apart, far above all that He has created. He is the Holy One. In His Voice is the fullness of eternal majesty.

Faith comes through hearing. Yet God has given a powerful support to the faithful in what we can see. He who knows what is in our souls, speaks to our hearts as we look at the things He has made. One day there is an impressive grove of mighty cedars in the forests of Lebanon. Then the storm comes. In the morning we walk in the same place where we had been the day before. What happened? It was the storm that brought about this devastating change.

We can examine and observe. We can measure the force of the winds. We can count the tress that have come down. We can see what the storm did to the creatures that live in the forest. We observe and we consider. Is there anyone stronger than the storm? Could it be that the God who created the heavens and the earth is still ruling over all? Could it be that He still cares about forests and the creatures that inhabit them?

To read about this from a distance is very different from the experience of being in the middle of it. A man who worships God and who believes His Word can make good use of the experience of a storm, combining the probabilities of observation and reason with the certainties of revelation. Spiritual maturity is experienced as the Voice of the Lord in Scripture intersects with the Voice of the Lord in providence. This is a primary way that the lives of those who worship God are enlarged.

It is not only that the Voice of the Lord can bring down a cedar or an oak. It is not only that God rules over earthquakes that are felt in one place and not in another. It is not only wild and domestic animals that feel the decrees of the Almighty. People's lives are in the hand of the Lord who speaks with such power.

Idols do not speak. They are the first cause of nothing. Gods you can put on a shelf are the effect of the craftsman's efforts. They are objects of mischief for men and angels. But the Lord who reigns from heaven is sovereign even over the rebellious. He can easily make the wrath of His enemies praise Him.

As people are granted an ear to hear the Voice of the Lord in the Scriptures, their lives are changed. They encounter the Word incarnate presented to them in the gospels, and come to understand that He is the Voice of God in creation, providence and redemption. They still feel the tragedies of the divine storm, but they no longer leap to the unwarranted conclusion that events in their lives are the result of random purposeless forces lacking all meaning and devoid of anything that could be called “love.”

They have seen the power of God in the storm that came down upon God's Son on the cross. That changes the way they look at physical storms, and the way they experience the tragedies that have shaken up their own lives. They know that they will never be the same. But through hearing the Voice of the Lord, and knowing the One who took the worst storm of God's wrath upon Himself for our sake, they have come to believe that in even the worst events of their lives, there is something more than the strength of the Almighty at work. Somehow, in ways that may be too complex to understand or too painful to express, there is love.

This is not necessarily the immediate experience of everyone who begins to acknowledge the truth of God's Word. It is the more mature development of a faith that has been tested. Together with the community of the afflicted who have known the love of God, they gather as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and they give God glory. They have heard the Voice of the King, and experienced the peace that passes understanding. Without the storm, would this kind of spiritual growth be possible?