The Voice of God

David was a man of the outdoors.

But he was not outside for leisure and recreation, camping in the coziness of a tent. He had to be outdoors, tending the flocks and herds of his father in the Judean hill country. He was working, but several of his Psalms suggest David also had time to meditate on the eloquent words of the night sky, opportunity to listen to the voice of the LORD.

It wasn’t all peace and tranquility. When you think about the signature splendors of creation, you might picture a blazing sunset over the gently swelling waters of the ocean, or perhaps you envision noble mountain peaks, solid and reassuring. But when you are outside frequently, you encounter a darker side of creation. That beautiful sky can be shredded by a violent storm, a calm sea can suddenly grow angry and threatening, and you will see and feel how severe creation can be.

Imagine David the young shepherd boy, hiding in the shelter of a rock as massive thunderclaps crash, the wind howls, and rain pelts down. 

Such events were the most powerful forces known by the ancient peoples: violent thunderstorms, along with rattling earthquakes, and the raging sea. The potent tools of death and destruction today are automatic weapons and missile-laden drones, yet far more common on this earth, still terrifying and just as deadly, are the simple forces of God’s creation: the earthquakes and volcanoes, hurricanes and forest fires, landslides and monsoons.

David was trembling in the storm, but also listening. For this is unmistakably the voice of the Lord! Psalm 29 says it is God’s voice “over the waters,” within the rolling thunder (v. 3), “breaking the cedars,” even smashing “the cedars of Lebanon” (v. 5), his voice that “shakes the wilderness” (v. 8) and “strips the forests bare” (v. 9). 

Hear how it is simply God’s voice that is accomplishing everything—a voice of great power. 

God issues the word, and a massive typhoon creeps toward the Philippines. God speaks, and the earth under Mexico begins to rattle and roll. God orders from his holy throne, and a tsunami rises out of the Indian Ocean. It all bears witness to the truth of verse 4, “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.”

Put together, God’s credentials form a long list: he has infinite power, flawless wisdom, unfailing goodness, perfect righteousness, steadfast mercy, and eternal truth. Next to this great God, there is no competitor.

This is why David challenges the “heavenly beings” or the “mighty ones” (Ps 29:1). David pictures God among the gods—like a heavenly meeting room—with the Lord surrounded by Baal, Dagon, Asherah, Molech and many others. These were the gods given credit for sending good weather, wealth, and military victory.

But in the presence of the true God, all pretenders must bow and give him the glory: “Ascribe to the LORD, you 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” (29:1–2). David rebukes these so-called mighty ones, for he sees that in the truest sense, the Lord God is holy—he is set apart, without comparison or competitor in heaven or on earth.

Today God still humbles the heroes of the world, shaming the false gods and ridiculing the empty idols. He can chastise peoples and their gods with tornadoes and blizzards and earthquakes. But God can also humble the nations with a financial crisis, civil unrest in the cities, or a new strain of disease. History demonstrates that very quickly a once mighty leader is brought low, an economy collapses, or a disaster strikes, leaving people troubled and searching for hope—searching for him.

Through his marvelous works the Lord shows that He alone deserves honor. The sovereign God is reminding us that it’s not presidents or prime ministers who get things done, nor the United Nations or Apple Inc. that will progress humanity. In this age of idols, we need to hear Psalm 29 as David urges us to hallow God’s name alone.

In the eleven verses of this psalm, God’s name occurs almost twenty times—it’s all about the Lord. That is how it should be, for God’s voice will always overpower every other.

Yet there is a human voice present here, so brief that you might overlook it. In the midst of God’s rolling thunder and breaking cedars—in all the beautiful commotion, his people respond. “In his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’” (29:9). Maybe you’ve heard an audience do this at a sporting event or a concert, when everyone shouts with the same cheer. Everyone in the temple cries out to God in his terrible might and dominion, with one voice exclaiming: “Glory!”

With that word they are performing their life’s first duty: hallowing God’s name.

After listening in on the council of God among the gods, watching the weather patterns sweep across the globe, monitoring the currents of the seven seas, and hearing the tectonic plates collide beneath the earth, at the close of the Psalm we zoom in. We see a very small nation, an insignificant people—it is the church, and God has not forgotten her. In his upholding of the entire universe, not once has God neglected the nation whom he chose for himself. She enjoys the great privilege of depending on his power, trusting in his wisdom, and finding refuge in his grace.

David writes this as the last word of his psalm, “May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!” (29:11).

Two gifts are requested here for God’s people: strength and peace. It sums up all we need. For our journey as holy pilgrims, for our labor as his servants, God will supply us with strength in body and spirit. And God will grant peace with himself through the forgiveness of sins. The Father shares his mighty strength through the Holy Spirit and works his unshakable peace through the Lord Jesus. 

Possessing these two crucial gifts of strength and peace, we can always give the LORD the worship that is his due: “Glory to my Triune God!”