God's Glory seen from Psalm 29

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/20/2012 8:47:18 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus: God’s Glory

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Psalm 29

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 A Psalm of David:  Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in holy array. 3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many 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; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, "Glory!" 10 The LORD sat as King at the flood; Yes, the LORD sits as King forever. 11 The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.”

 

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that Psalm 29 has been used to celebrate the feast of Pentecost and after reading the psalm through, one can understand why.  When you read Acts chapter two you will discover the sound of wind, tongues of fire, and the “thunder” of God’s voice through His Word.

            “The word ‘glory’ is used four times in the psalm (1-3, 9), for David saw in the storm God’s glory revealed in three different places.”

 

            God’s Glory in the Heavenly Temple (vv. 1-2):  “Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in holy array.”

            We see in verse one two attributes of God glory and strength.  We can also see that the psalm begins and ends with strength (verse 11), and in verses 4-9 we see the demonstration of God’s strength.  The phrase “sons of the mighty” is speaking of angels and in verse two we see that the angels were worshiping the Lord in proper attire “holy array.”  When the priests had to go into the tabernacle they had to be dressed in proper attire, and so when the angels come to worship the Lord in heaven the same is required.  When one looks at Revelations 4-5 they will see worship going on for heaven is a place of worship.  Isaiah six is another place where we see worship going on in heaven and it is seen in this psalm as well.

            Holiness is beautiful while all sin is ugly.  When Jesus Christ walked on earth we know that He was sinless and thus He was holy (still is) and yet people did not realize the fact that He was sinless, but holy and His holiness was a beauty to uphold.

 

            God’s Glory in the Earthly Tempest (vv. 3-9):  “3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many 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; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, "Glory!"

            What we have pictured in these verses is a thunderstorm that began out in the Mediterranean as seen in verse two and then the storm moved over land as it moved up into Lebanon and Mt. Herman (Sirion).  It moved down into the wilderness and there it ended.  We see that the power of this storm is “the voice of the Lord” or the thunder and not the lighting or the wind.  The forest of Lebanon was famous for their Cedar trees, yet they were like sticks when meeting up with the voice of the Lord. In Scripture the cedar tree is sometimes a symbol of a nation or a kingdom.  (Ezekiel 17:1-3; 31:3; Numbers 24:6; Isa. 2:10-17).

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The angels learned about God’s grace, wisdom, and power by watching the Son of God when He served on earth (1Tim. 3:16). “16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.”  They also learned during the week of creation (Job 38:7), and they are learning today as they behold the church on earth (Eph. 3:10; 1Peter 1:12).  According to verse 9, after the angels watched the storm described in this psalm, they cried, ‘Glory!’” 

            God’s Glory on the Heavenly Throne (vv. 10-11):  “10 The LORD sat as King at the flood; Yes, the LORD sits as King forever. 11 The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.”

            The heathens of David’s day worshiped Baal and they thought he was the god of the storms, but in this psalm David describes this storm as coming from God for He is the one true God who is in control of all that goes on, on this earth, even the storms. 

            We see that David mentions the flood in verse ten and perhaps this storm that David is describing here involved a flood, but it seems that David was writing about the flood that occurred in the days of Noah.  David says that it was the Lord who sat as King at the flood, the Lord was in charge of the great flood of Noah’s day. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “The Lord is King today and will sit as King forever!  He can give strength to His people and see them through the storms of life.  After the thunder, lightning, wind, and rain comes the calm after the storm when ‘the Lord bless His people with peace’ (v.11, NIV; and see 107:29 and 148:8.) Noah saw the rainbow of the covenant after the storm (Gen. 9:8-17), the apostle John saw it before the storm (Rev. 4:3), and Ezekiel saw the rainbow in the midst of the storm (Eze. 1:26-28).  We always have God’s promise to encourage us.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am so blessed by reading and studying the Bible and also from the wonderful counsel that I get from the Holy Spirit of God and also from the words that Dr. Warren Wiersbe has written in his commentaries.  The quote that is above just shows how much he knows about the Word of God and also it makes the Word of God more understandable.

            Storms of life will come and end and yet we know that the Lord will bring peace before, during and after the storms of life as described by the rainbows in the quote above.  Contentment is knowing that God is in control of all things in my life, even the storms of life that come my way.

 

 My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Continue to learn contentment, learning that God is in control of all things that come into my life and will work them out for my good and for His glory.

 

1/20/2012 10:00:27 AM