“God’s Voice Thunders” – Psalm 29

I believe one of the most difficult and yet one of the simplest things for a believer is hearing God’s voice. Not too many people are willing to admit to hearing His voice, even in a church setting. In fact, one of the most often asked questions I get is how can a person know what God’s will is.

How can we know God is speaking to us? Does He uses a Charlton Heston-type voice? Does He speak at all in today’s world? Or does He limit His voice to only those who are almost Biblical in the way they live out their lives?

I believe God does speak to us today, and that He speaks to all His children. When God speaks, He uses a variety of ways. Sometimes He speaks with the clarity of a clap of thunder, sometimes with the softness of a whisper on a breeze. He speaks to us through the Bible, through books written by godly authors, through our friends or worship. He speaks to us in our thoughts and in our dreams. In short, God speaks to us through a myriad number of ways. The key to hearing God’s voice is learning how to listen for it.

In the passage we’re looking at today, the psalmist tells us to listen to the voice of God in the peals of thunder during a tremendous storm. He harkens back to the record of God speaking to the nation on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19-20. In that passage, God instructed Moses to have the people prepare themselves to come to the mountain to hear God speak to them. After preparing themselves as God instructed them, the people approached the mountain and stood around it. God descended in a cloud with fire and thunder, shaking the ground and the mountain. He gave them the Ten Commandments during this time.

After God had spoken to the people, they were terrified. God’s voice was described as thunder, and the people were firm in begging Moses to not let such an event happen again. They told him they did not want ever hear God’s voice again, that they would be content to let Moses speak to God for them, and to speak to them on behalf of God.

The psalmist recalls this as he watches a storm come from the west across the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and sweep across the lands of Israel. He describes the storm as so vast that it covers the ground from as far north as Lebanon to as far south as the desert south of Israel. It is a massive storm, and the psalmist reminds the people that God’s voice can be heard in the thunder.

Central Truth: God’s voice can reveal His majesty and might.

Hearing God’s voice:

Is a reason for praise (1-2)

Have you ever heard someone speak and the voice just immediately captured your attention? There are some people in our world—James Earl Jones comes readily to mind—who could read the telephone book with such feeling and authority that it would seem as though he or she was speaking authoritatively and passionately. When we hear such a person speak, we have a tendency to praise them for their voice, if for nothing else.

The psalmist begins his psalm with a call to give credit to God. He calls upon the “mighty ones” to ascribe to God. The mighty ones may refer to angels, or it may refer to God’s people. Regardless, the point of the psalm is to give God credit and praise for the attributes of glory, strength, character and holiness.

The glory of God is generally a reference to His presence, but it can also be a reference to His splendor. God is glorious in that He is so far above us and so magnificent in His attributes. Look at the way God manifests Himself through His creation, through His actions and through His words and expectations, and we can see the need to give to God the acknowledgment of His glory.

We are also called upon to ascribe to His strength. His strength is seen in His faithfulness. God is eternal, consistent and true to Himself and to His word. He never varies. He keeps all things in existence through His strength and His preservation. God’s strength is in His power to contain evil and to intervene in our world to bring His will to fruition. We ascribe to His strength.

The psalmist also calls upon us to ascribe glory due to God’s name. In Old Testament times, the name was heavily tied to the character of the person. For instance, when Isaac and Rebekah had twins, they named their elder son Esau and the younger son was named Jacob. The reason Jacob received his name was because when he was born, he was holding on to Esau’s heel. The name “Jacob” means “trickster” or “supplanter.” If you recall the story of Esau and Jacob, Esau was to inherit all that Isaac had, since Esau was the elder son. Jacob used his brother’s hunger to trick Esau into giving up his birthright to Jacob. Later, when it was time for Isaac to give Esau his blessing, Jacob tricked his father into giving him the blessing instead.

Later, when Jacob was returning home after living 14 years away, he had an encounter with the angel of the Lord. Jacob wrestled this angel all night and refused to let go until the angel blessed him. As a result, Jacob’s name was changed from Jacob to Israel. Israel means “he who struggles” or “struggles with God.” The names of Jacob and Israel fit the person at the time the name was given.

So the name of God is a reflection of His character. The name God gives to Himself is “I am that I am” or “I will be what I will be.” The meaning of the name is that God is exactly who He says He is—never-changing, consistent, reliable, trustworthy. God is faithful to Himself and His word. We are called upon to give glory to God’s name.

Finally, the psalmist tells us to worship God in the splendor of His holiness. God’s holiness is that He is Other. That is, He is not like anything else in all of creation, because He is not created; He is. He is timeless, meaning He is eternal and not limited by time. With God, there is no yesterday or today or tomorrow—there is only now. That’s why Peter can write that with God, a day is as a thousand years, and that a thousand years is as a day to Him. The holiness of God is to ascribe to Him His unique place in our world and in our lives. Because He is holy, He is worthy of worship.

Shows His splendor (3-9)

Once when we were in Red River, I was sitting outside in front of the cabin we had rented. Where I sat, I could see a row of mountains, each offset just enough to see the next mountain further down the road. As I sat there that morning, I noticed it was raining off in the distance. I always enjoy rain, and rain in the arid west is particularly interesting to watch. As I sat there, watching the rain in the distance, I noticed that it was coming closer to me. As I watched, I saw the rain begin to cover the mountain furthest from me. Shortly, it began to cover the next closest mountain. It continued in this way until I felt the first drops of rain falling on me. It was an amazing, beautiful thing to see.

As the psalmist writes his psalm, he is watching a thunderstorm sweep in from the sea and cover the land. Reminded of the voice of God at Sinai, he sees God in storm and hears His voice in the thunder. He describes the storm and its course in the psalm.

God’s voice is seen over the sea as the storm is offshore. “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters” (v. 3). He is awed by the might and power of God’s voice as he watches the storm come ashore. “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars” (v. 5) and “shakes the desert” (v. 8).

As he watches the storm and listens to the storm around him, the psalmist is drawn to God’s presence, hearing the voice of God and seeing the power and majesty of God in the storm. There is no sense of fear, but there is a sense of awe and wonder.

One of the things my parents instilled in me was an appreciation of rain. When a storm would come near our house, Mom and Dad would break out the patio chairs and place them in the drive way. Then they would sit and watch and listen to the rain and the thunder. I admit I do the same thing today. There’s something about the wonder of a thunderstorm, and one cannot help but see God’s hand in the storm.

I also remember a storm when I was alone. I had moved into the apartment that Kim and I would live in when we got married later that week. I was awakened by the crash of thunder. As I lay there, I listened to the thunder crashing right outside my window. As I lay there, I began to wonder if the lightning was hitting in the courtyard of our apartment complex. It was terrifying, listening to the storm unleash its power right outside where I lay.

Both the Red River storm and that apartment storm stand out in my memory. They remind me that God’s voice can be heard in the gentle rain, and in the horrific crash of the thunder as it slashes and crashes against the walls of the house.

And I think that’s the point of the psalmist. In invoking the voice of God in the thunderstorm, the psalmist is harking back to the Exodus and is seeing God’s presence in the storm that doesn’t threaten him, but reminds him only of God.

The voice of God should evoke the wide range of emotions that we have. There should be a sense of awe and wonder, a sense of celebration and appreciation, as well as a healthy fear of the Lord. When He spoke to Job, God constantly reminded Job that God is not a gentle as lamb God, but He is a God who is also the God of the wild and free, a God that cannot be contained or captured. He is God, and we must not approach Him with a familiarity that borders on taking Him for granted.

The voice of God reveals His splendor and we are wise to acknowledge this truth.

Reminds us of His ability to bless (10-11)

Finally, the psalmist lets us know that God is in control, and that He has the ability to bless His people.

The word “flood” is used only here and in Genesis when it describes the flood of Noah’s day. That flood of Noah’s day was a flood of judgment and cleansing, of destruction and renewal. And God, the righteous Judge, presided over that flood. The Lord also presides over the flood of the storm that the psalmist is experiencing. The psalmist tells us that God is the eternal God, eternally sovereign over all creation.

And in that capacity, God is able to strengthen and bless His people. He delights in blessing us. I have a pastor friend who does not like the hymn, “Showers of Blessings.” The reason he doesn’t like it is because of the chorus, which says, “Mercy drops ‘round us are falling, but for the showers we pray.” His point is that God’s blessings are already pouring down upon us; all we have to do is see and embrace these blessings. God’s grace and mercy and love are empowering us each and every day, if only we will open our eyes to see them.

God gives us strength, and He gives us blessings. We are wise if we will walk in His ways and so enjoy all that He promises us and offers us.

Conclusion

It’s not easy to hear God’s voice. We are so distracted and pulled away in our world, and we have never really taken the time to truly listen. Often times, when God is speaking to us, we attribute the voice to someone or something else.

To hear God’s voice, there are some things we need. We need an open heart and mind. We need to be attuned to His voice. We need to be willing to hear His voice in the unlikely places. And we need to realize that when God speaks to us, He is consistent with His Word. God will not contradict what we read in the Bible. He will speak to us, but we must be willing to listen.