Psalm 29

A Psalm of David.

1 Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty,
give unto the LORD glory and strength.
2 Give unto the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters;
the God of glory thundereth;
the LORD is upon 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 breaketh the cedars;
yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness;
the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve,
and discovereth the forests;
and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood;
yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
11 The LORD will give strength unto his people;
the LORD will bless his people with peace.

JW: It is probable David wrote this psalm during a storm of thunder, lightning, and rain; as that he wrote the eighth in a moon-shining night and the nineteenth in a sun-shining morning. He calls on the great to give glory to God, ver. 1, 2; observes his power in thunder and lightning, ver. 3-9; his dominion over the world and care over the church, ver. 10, 11.

3: 'The waters' - Above in the clouds, which are called waters, Gen. 1.7; Psalm 18.11. The Divine power displays itself in those high places, which are far above the reach of all earthly potentates. 'Many' - Upon the clouds, in which there are vast treasures of water, and upon which God is said to sit or ride, Psalm 18.10, 11; 104.3.

9: 'To calve' - Through the terror it causes, which hastens the birth. He names the hinds because they bring forth their young with difficulty, Job 39.1, 2. 'Discovereth' - Heb. maketh bare, of its trees, which it breaks or strips of their leaves. 'Glory' - Having shewed the terrible effects of God's power in other places, he now shews the blessed privilege of God's people that are praising God in his temple, when the rest of the world are trembling under the tokens of his displeasure.

10: 'The flood' - The most violent waters, which sometimes fall from the clouds upon the earth. These are fitly mentioned as being as many times in the companions of great thunders. And this may be alleged as another reason why God's people praised him in his temple, because as he sends terrible tempests and thunders, so he also restrains and overrules them. 'Sitteth' - He doth sit, and will sit as king for ever, sending such tempests when it pleaseth him.

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Where poetry meets reality: the voice of the LORD is upon the waters...the LORD is upon many waters...creating, ordering, restraining, transforming, redeeming. Notice how the creation responds.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters...

God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place"...and it was so...God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures"...

The LORD said to Moses..."Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry land"...Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided...Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course...

So Jonah was hurled into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging...and the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights...

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am will pleased"...

Then Jesus rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"...

And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus came to them, walking on the sea...

Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from...

Words are powerful: they can inspire life and confidence in ways that nothing else can; they can inflict wounds much deeper and longer-lasting than any "sticks and stones." And in Scripture, we can see from this Psalm and these passages that the creation depends on the Word for its source and sustenance. So what happens when the Word draws his last breath? The creation must respond...

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice...And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split...

The voice of the LORD:
is upon the waters...
is powerful...
is full of majesty...
breaks the cedars...
divides the fire...
shakes the wilderness...
makes the deer give birth