For the Storms of Life--Psalm 29

Psalm 29 is meant to be read during a thunderstorm. Maybe that's because a lot of people are afraid during storms and they need to be reminded that God is in control of every single molecule. When I was a little girl, there would sometimes be thunderstorms in the middle of the night. My dad would come into our rooms and get us up and we would all go into the living room and sit on the couch by the picture window to watch the storm. He told us that the thunder was God's voice! I didn't know it at the time, but he got that idea from this Psalm.

Ascribe to the Lord Glory

A Psalm of David.

29 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,[a]
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.[b]

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
    and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth 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 give birth[c]
    and strips the forests bare,
    and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰ The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
¹¹ May the Lord give strength to his people!
    May the Lord bless^[d] his people with peace!

Did you know that this psalm used to be read to children or to entire congregations during a storm? To appreciate this psalm, you need to get out into field and experience a real storm. The psalm marches to the tune of thunderbolts. You can almost hear the thunder as the psalm is read out loud. Let your imagination run with the imagery in the psalm--cedars are breaking, fire is flashing everywhere, there are earthquakes, and the forests are stripped bare. 

I bet you saw the devastation of the hurricanes on our east coast and saw the fires on the west coast on TV. And the volcanoes in Hawaii. Seeing these things should make us praise God! In this psalm even the angels are petitioned to give glory to God for these wondrous works. 

A lot of people today would not praise God for that kind of stuff. Instead, they get mad at God for sending storms--not even realizing that he is trying to get their attention in order to save them from a worse fate--forever. Sometimes it takes a devastating storm or great loss for people to realize what is really important. 

Did you notice that right in the middle of all the storms, the Lord is still helping the deer give birth? And when you get to the last line--He gives his people peace. God is perfectly calm during the whole storm. Who does that remind you of? It reminds me of Jesus falling asleep in the boat when the poor disciples were going out of their minds during the storm on Galilee. 

The bottom line is this: God gives us storms not only to show his great power, but as a warning of future judgment. The storms of life help to keep us on track and to fear God. 

Here are a couple of pics from a recent snow storm we had:

The Good Shepherd--Psalm 23

Most people know Psalm 23 by heart. I think it is the first Psalm I ever memorized when I was in first grade. But we don't live in a place where we see a lot of sheep and we probably don't even know any shepherds. In Bible times, a shepherd's work was considered the lowest of all work. So when the LORD of the universe takes on the lowest of all work, it is extreme condescension. 

Shepherding was considered the lowest of all work because sheep are so stupid. They can't do a thing for themselves and left on their own, they would make all the wrong choices. They are completely helpless. They can't find their own food. If they fall down, they can't get up. And they can't fend off predators. 

The shepherd has to make sure that four things happen before he can make the sheep lie down: 1) They have to be free from fear, and sheep are fearful creatures, so that is a big undertaking. 2) They have to be free from friction with other sheep and sheep have a way of constantly annoying each other, so that is another hard job for the shepherd. 3) They have to be free from flies and other tormenting parasites. And 4) they have to be free from hunger. A hungry sheep will be on the prowl for food. 

And yet, a good shepherd gets the sheep to lie down and relax. If you haven't figured it out yet, the Bible is comparing us to sheep. People are also full of anxiety and fears and they like to pick fights with each other. But the good shepherd leads them beside still waters and restores their souls. That means he is the one who makes their souls come alive. He leads us to repentance and he has to keep doing it over and over. If a sheep falls on its back, it begins to panic because it can't turn itself over. It starts to paw the air frantically and gases build up in its body cutting off its circulation to its legs. The sheep will die in a few hours if the shepherd doesn't get there in time. Sometimes wolves will get the sheep first. So the shepherd has to be on duty 24/7. No lingering lunches or days off for the holidays. 

The good shepherd takes the sheep through the valley of the shadow of death. They don't stay in the valley and they don't run through the valley. They just keep going through at a steady pace. The valley is scary. There are shadows that freak the sheep out. Of course we know that a shadow can't hurt anybody, right?  But if there is a shadow, we know there must be a monster making the shadow, so we get scared. But we also know that if there is a shadow, there must be a light behind the shadow that is bigger than the shadow. It kind of reminds me of the song, "God is bigger than the bogeyman." 

We are going to walk through a lot of scary places in this life, but God is leading the way and his rod and staff comfort us. He uses his rod against the scary monsters to beat them off, and he uses his staff to pull us back if we start to wander off. He feeds us well, so we never go hungry and he anoints us with oil. Well, that seems kind of weird because we don't do those things anymore, but the anointing with oil just means that he is keeping all those pesky flies and other parasites away from us. He gives us so much that it overflows. 

Finally he is preparing a permanent home for us and we will be able to live with him forever. Here is the whole psalm. If you haven't already memorized it, you probably should. 

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.