The Lord gave me Psalm 29 the last month leading up to the AIDS Awareness Event week, and I found it to be the source that fueled many of my prayers throughout. I love this Psalm. Seriously. Talk about a beautifully articulated declaration of the Lord’s power, authority, majesty, glory and worth. As I read it, my heart crescendos with the Psalmists to such an extent that by the time I near the end, my heart burst as it joins the cry of “Glory” that fills His temple is response to observing Him. This Psalm is filled with such rich truths, and I wanted to try my best to share with you what I see spoken to me of God within these short verses.
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
I love that this Psalm starts with an exhortation to acknowledge the Lord and to accredit Him with the realities of His character; to come before the Lord with a pure heart and from this state of wholeness, offer Him worship while clothed in “the splendor [beauty in NKJV] of holiness.” This is a good place to start a prayer, a reminder of WHO we in fact are praying to.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The first thing I see here is that we are dealing with the voice of the Lord, not His hand, not His presence, not His silent outworking, but His voice. It is a voice that is FULL, it is authoritative, it is the same voice that SPOKE creation into being, and it is the voice of the ONE who is over all.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
Cedars of Lebanon were timbers of immense, solid, study strength; they were the best materials that men could harvest. These cedars were used to build Solomon’s Temple. They symbolize the strong things in this world.
This voice is able to break the strong things in this world. Whether it be walls or sanctuaries...or hearts or wills. There is nothing that is of strength or stability or hardness that can withstand the sound of this voice. This voice can burst apart bonds, shatter the doors of bronze, break in two the bars of iron (Psalm 107) and cause immense mountains to physically shake (Exodus 19). Whoa.
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of God spurs things into motion. He cause the things He wishes to move, to move. Selah. Can you feel why this Psalm has comforted my soul? Praise the Lord.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
These flames consume...burning until only what is eternal remains. And these flames produce the sparks that light our lamps. Selah.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
When I think of the wilderness, I think of a place that is dry and arid, where the sun has baked things until what was once movable is much too hard, a place that is uninhabited by both people and plants, a place of unbearable heat and silence.
The voice of God shakes the wilderness. I feel this is the promise to wake up what has too long been asleep, still and silent; to shake what is hard and barren and dry.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
The voice of the Lord brings forth life.
The voice of the Lord brings forth life.
The voice of the Lord brings forth life.
and strips the forest bare,
The sound of this voice humbles and reveals. Here is truth: If we do not listen to the quiet voice as it speaks to us now, we will be brought to our knees eventually when it resounds around us at the return of our King.
and in His temple all cry, “Glory!”
What can be said in response to hearing this Voice speak with such power? What can be said in response to this incredible display of authority and promise? What can be said by those who observe our mighty God is action?
“Glory!” from our knees.
“GLORY!” with our hands upraised.
“Glory,” as we lie prostrate before His throne.
He is glorious, and glorious to behold.
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
A flood is a thing of devastation; it comes and destroys what is in its path, it shows no mercy or partiality in who it touches, it takes and breaks, it leaves behind a path of confusion, chaos, filth and decay, it is a terrible thing to look on its aftermath.
The AIDS Crisis is a flood. And God is still King. He still reigns even over this flood. And from the lips of an HIV+ orphan, “He can use even this for His glory.”
May the Lord give strength to His people!
May the Lord bless His people with peace!
Amen.
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
I love that this Psalm starts with an exhortation to acknowledge the Lord and to accredit Him with the realities of His character; to come before the Lord with a pure heart and from this state of wholeness, offer Him worship while clothed in “the splendor [beauty in NKJV] of holiness.” This is a good place to start a prayer, a reminder of WHO we in fact are praying to.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The first thing I see here is that we are dealing with the voice of the Lord, not His hand, not His presence, not His silent outworking, but His voice. It is a voice that is FULL, it is authoritative, it is the same voice that SPOKE creation into being, and it is the voice of the ONE who is over all.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
Cedars of Lebanon were timbers of immense, solid, study strength; they were the best materials that men could harvest. These cedars were used to build Solomon’s Temple. They symbolize the strong things in this world.
This voice is able to break the strong things in this world. Whether it be walls or sanctuaries...or hearts or wills. There is nothing that is of strength or stability or hardness that can withstand the sound of this voice. This voice can burst apart bonds, shatter the doors of bronze, break in two the bars of iron (Psalm 107) and cause immense mountains to physically shake (Exodus 19). Whoa.
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of God spurs things into motion. He cause the things He wishes to move, to move. Selah. Can you feel why this Psalm has comforted my soul? Praise the Lord.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
These flames consume...burning until only what is eternal remains. And these flames produce the sparks that light our lamps. Selah.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
When I think of the wilderness, I think of a place that is dry and arid, where the sun has baked things until what was once movable is much too hard, a place that is uninhabited by both people and plants, a place of unbearable heat and silence.
The voice of God shakes the wilderness. I feel this is the promise to wake up what has too long been asleep, still and silent; to shake what is hard and barren and dry.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
The voice of the Lord brings forth life.
The voice of the Lord brings forth life.
The voice of the Lord brings forth life.
and strips the forest bare,
The sound of this voice humbles and reveals. Here is truth: If we do not listen to the quiet voice as it speaks to us now, we will be brought to our knees eventually when it resounds around us at the return of our King.
and in His temple all cry, “Glory!”
What can be said in response to hearing this Voice speak with such power? What can be said in response to this incredible display of authority and promise? What can be said by those who observe our mighty God is action?
“Glory!” from our knees.
“GLORY!” with our hands upraised.
“Glory,” as we lie prostrate before His throne.
He is glorious, and glorious to behold.
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
A flood is a thing of devastation; it comes and destroys what is in its path, it shows no mercy or partiality in who it touches, it takes and breaks, it leaves behind a path of confusion, chaos, filth and decay, it is a terrible thing to look on its aftermath.
The AIDS Crisis is a flood. And God is still King. He still reigns even over this flood. And from the lips of an HIV+ orphan, “He can use even this for His glory.”
May the Lord give strength to His people!
May the Lord bless His people with peace!
Amen.
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