Book of Psalms - Psa. 29, vv. 1-11

We're gonna go on ahead and get started because we got a lot of ground to cover and I'm gonna I'm gonna be switching with Ben jamming next next week. He takes over the Sunday school and Katie and I actually won't be here because we're going on a trip and we'll we'll get back just in time to pick up the kids from church next Sunday, so We'll be missing but we will be in.

Psalm 29 as a Song of Praise and Worship

Psalm 29. Psalm 29 This is a psalm of David. The psalm we're not really sure when it was written. But we know it was written by David as a song of praise to God. I'm gonna start with a question and the question is How do we worship God.

In fact, we might even just bring it in a little closer and then I'll be able to see the screen better. Oh now you can really hear me.

How do we worship God.

In spirit and in truth. We're gonna be seeing and the spirit and truth together in this psalm and What it should what it should result in How it should look in our worship, so it says a Psalm of David given to the Lord.

Oh ye mighty given to the Lord glory and strength. Now Charles Spurgeon points out that while man can give nothing to the increase of value towards the Lord He can and should ascribe the highest value to his ownership.

In other words, there's nothing you can do.

To.

Increase value to God. He's already got the highest value. And so when it says to give to him It's not like you're giving something that he didn't have before. Instead what you're doing is you're ascribing something he already has to him.

You're recognizing that he he has value. So the start of this psalm Which is a psalm of praise gives us instruction on how to praise God. We should start with the mindset of Ascribing great value to him.

Come on in Matty grace. You look beautiful. We're in Psalm 29. Oh, you're gonna go. Okay.

So.

We should start with a mindset of ascribing great value to the Lord. When we value something or someone we usually put our efforts and our attention toward them. Proper praise of God should and only can start with valuing God.

Now here it says Given to the Lord. Oh ye mighty given to the Lord glory and strength. The mighty also known as the leaders of the land who are typically rich and powerful are called to ascribe abundance and might.

To the Lord that word glory. It's a word meaning abundance. And so and the word for strength means might. So when when the. When the people are told to give unto the Lord it's specifically talking to people who are mighty.

Which are usually or typically people who are rich and powerful. This doesn't mean only the rich and powerful should praise the Lord but there's something interesting about the fact that it brings out the mighty because what it says for the mighty to give is essentially abundance and might.

So the very thing that they are known by. The mighty are known by their riches and their power. The very thing that they're known by is the thing they're supposed to ascribe to God. It's the very thing that defines their position in life.

It should be credited to their maker. Deuteronomy 8 18 tells us remember your God for it is he that gives you the power to create wealth. So even just the ability to have riches and abundance it comes from God.

Romans 13 1 says let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power. But of God the powers that be or art are ordained of God. So someone who is rich and powerful can only be so because of God.

And so whether they believe in God or not is irrelevant. He is the one that gives man the ability to create profit and he is the one that gives man whatever power he has on earth and. So this entire psalm starts off with an instruction for us to one value the Lord but to Recognize that any value we have comes from the Lord.

Verse 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. The word glory here is kavod. Which means honor. Glorious abundance. When we recognize that there is no value higher than God and that our value is derived from him.

It should result in us honoring him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. That my question when we started was how do we? Worship God. This right here is a perfect answer. The way you worship God is in the beauty of holiness.

What does that mean. It brings to mind the the song Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. Doing exactly what the Lord commands. Doing it happily. Action is the key. Do it immediately.

Joy, you will receive. Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. Our kids loved that when they were little. Then they go. Oh B. E. D. I. E. N. C. E. Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe for those of you.

Sitting at home and listening. I'm I apologize for the Poor singing abilities, but you get the point That the beautiness the beauty of holiness comes from your obedience to God's Word. So next we're going to see How all of that comes about right if we're supposed to value God.

Hey guys Didn't expect y 'all to be here. You feeling better a.

Little bit.

Good.

So we're in Psalm 29 and We're just about to Get into verse 3. Quick recap for those of you just walked in. This is a psalm about praising God and it starts with valuing God. Recognizing that our value comes from God and that should result in us honoring him by obeying him.

So verse 3 the voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory Thundereth the Lord is upon many waters. Now if you read Spurgeon's commentary on this It's kind of cool how he starts it. He says that this song should be should be read during a storm Just to really bring the feeling of the psalm about.

Because he describes the voice of the Lord in stormy terminology. Thunder in many waters. I've been on a few cruises and While I was on the boat a couple of times. I've sailed through some storms. And I like to go outside During the storm right before they lock you in before they they start.

Telling you you can't go outside because it's too rough and stuff because I like to see it.

And.

They do that for safety reasons, of course, but When you go out there There there's all like this feeling of helplessness almost and I I only get just a little glimpse of it because they're not giant storms.

We've gone through. Pop however has been Through some crazy giant storms and he tells the story of him being on his small little sailboat with his family during a squall. Like the kind that you know kill people.

And.

He he talks about how he looks up and with each wave you're guessing. Well, this is the one that's gonna kill us and I can't imagine the feeling of helplessness there. But also the noise because when you're out on a cruise ship, you're truly still in the city.

It feels like.

But.

When it's storming at night It's a little less loud on the cruise ship not much but a little less and if it's a truly loud storm You can hear the thunder and the rain and the rain hitting the water. But you also see the the waves and the waves themselves make noise.

And so you have noise below and you have noise above and it's all encompassing it completely surrounds but at the same time there's almost this Strange stillness of a lack of noise cuz you're way out in the ocean, you know.

And.

So it's it's something that is supposed to at least with the way David writes this psalm it should remind us of the voice of God. It says here The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. Notice the Plurality of waters there.

It's not it's not singular. It's because there's water above and there's water beneath. The God of glory thundereth. I Want you to notice there that it's not that his voice thunders. It's not that there's any.

It's not that the storm thunders. It is that God himself Thunders the the God of glory not necessarily his glory thundering. It's God himself thundering. The word Thunder means to thunder to make the sound of thunder or to rage.

This is described by the sound that makes this the storm so terrifying. Like when you think of a storm and how scary the storm is when the kids get scared and they come running into your room. Because it's storming outside.

It's the thunder. Right, it's that's the thing that makes it truly terrifying. Is that sound? It's the rumble in your belly, you know the sound that makes you jump. And what it causes you to do is recognize that power is present in a storm.

You you go. Wow, that's a powerful storm. You can hear the sound of the storm. But that's what thunder really is because it's really just the announcement of power if you think about it. It's a result of something else what's the thunder the result of The lightning right and we're going to talk about the lightning here in just a second.

But no one is able to adequately describe the power of God. But God himself. Just why I think it says here the God of glory thundereth.

And.

And therefore our God of glory thunders. The Lord is upon many waters. Now notice. We started off the voice of the Lord is upon many waters or is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth and then the Lord is upon many waters.

It's an important distinction to recognize because while his voice alone can control it all He himself takes charge and bestows his presence upon the chaos. This is the God that doesn't rule from afar but inserts himself into the chaos to control it from within.

Obviously Jesus came to earth to bring order to the chaos and set right the fallen world. The voice of the Lord verse 4 the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. When you watch a storm what seems to be the pinnacle of power.

Lightning the lightning strike like when you're driving. We've driven home to Mahalia we got about a 35 minute drive from here and we've had a few times when we were on our way home and the storm was brewing and Lightning you can see it in the distance.

It's just like Magnificent right like you just see the lightning all over sometimes. It's one of my favorite things to watch and it's both beautiful and terrifying. One might say it's majestic. The God of glory thunders and his voice is full of power and majesty.

So, how do we hear his voice? Well, he thunders but I mean like how do we actually hear the voice of God? It should remind us of the thunder. Okay, reading of his word Hebrews 1. God who at sundry times and diverse manners spake in time past.

Under the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days. Spoken to us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world's. Who being the brightness? It's interesting brightness of his glory.

Interesting phraseology there when you're thinking that lightning is akin to the Word of God. And the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

So we hear the voice of God through Jesus who is by the word by the way the word made flesh and Because we do not have Jesus in the flesh. We have his words in Scripture. And of course, we also have his spirit which helps us to interpret these words for us.

We hear God's word through his word through through the scripture.

And.

We're supposed to test the spirits, right? We're not supposed to just go. Okay. I heard a voice I Heard a voice which means that's God. We had a Bible study on Wednesday night with some of the teenagers and Had Sam and Landon and Zeke and we have been starting into a study that Maddie had requested in Ezekiel and then we get these three guys and I go.

We're not doing Ezekiel today. So we we just started we threw an audible and we said let's talk about how do we know if we're actually hearing from God or from something else and Gave them what we call the litmus test, which is God's.

God's voice always points to God's Word and It always points to God's glory. It doesn't give glory to man or anything else. God gets the glory. And so if anything or anyone else gets the glory, it's probably not of God and.

So.

That's our litmus test. But the way we hear the voice of God which thunders and lightnings And it's through his word and through the interpretation of that word by his Holy Spirit. Therein by the way lies power and beauty for us to experience verse 5 the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars breaketh.

Strength and splendor applied if you think about it like when you break something. There's power behind the breaking. This word breaketh means to violently crush. Have you ever seen lightning hit a tree?

It's.

Pretty wild like it's awesome. Yeah, it cracks in two right this thing that would take man great strength and ingenuity To fell right like we either we either you know chop away with much strength or we use a lot of ingenuity and Brainpower to create tools that will help us zip through but even if you ever try to To a chainsaw tree.

It's much easier than chopping a tree, but it's not all together easy either. I Helped one of my buddies clear like Two three acres of land in a single day. It was not just me and him. We had a whole team of people and we were just cutting like crazy.

I think there were like 20 of us out there and It was just cedars which ironically that's what we're talking about here. They're very hard little trees and very difficult to cut down now the chainsaw made it a lot easier.

But you had to stay focused so you wouldn't you know hurt yourself, but also we were exhausted by the end of the day but for the Lord Crack like it's nothing like as if we were to take a twig in our hands and just you know Done, that's how easy it is for the Lord to fell these mighty cedars a lot of power there.

I sat on the edge of my bed Watching this typhoon out my window where trees Big around like this go flying through the yard.

That's wild.

Piles off the house below ours. Buses in one bus out the other side in the next bus and seven buses later you find a little piece of tile.

Goodness.

Storm.

There's a wonderful.

Description of God and of great power not not just from lightning strikes, but also from the water that can carry those Those trees away, right? The wind holy moly think about that, how are you alive pop?

Yeah, it's truly a miracle. I mean pop has lived through every natural disaster movie known to man I think Save maybe deep impact or Armageddon, you know, like so let's hope you can survive those two.

Oh goodness. We did we 2012. Fun movie though, wasn't it? So how about this if you haven't seen a lightning strike hit a tree? You may have at least seen a tree that has been struck by lightning. Right, and it's pretty unmistakable.

It's as if there was a sign that was hung and said lightning was here, right? Like it's. It is an unmistakable sign that a tree has been struck right so to the powerful Word of God Which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It is Unmistakable when we say a life touched by the Word of God. It is forever changed and if we didn't see the word Strike in the hearts in the heart of a person at its Genesis if you will it doesn't really matter because we can see the effects of That word and we can know that lightning was present there.

The Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. And it's not just his voice notice it said the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. Yay. The Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. This is very important because again, we're seeing it's not just the voice of God which could picture his word.

It's also God himself like a mixture of God's Word and his spirit is present.

His.

Holy Spirit makes that word active and powerful in the life of a Christian verse 6. He maketh them also to skip like a calf Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn. I wish Abby were in here for that part right there.

A unicorn in Scripture. Wow, if you look it up. It literally says we don't know what this is.

But.

Essentially there's Speculation that it's a an extinct version of a cattle or something. I Don't know. Since we don't know we're just gonna picture a unicorn. It makes it pretty fun. But here's the point of this verse because it almost seems kind of weird like all right.

He maketh also to skip like a calf. What is it talking about. What's gonna skip like a calf. He maketh them also to skip like a calf.

Yes.

Yes, he's talking about the cedars of Lebanon. But what mom just said what pop just said. Both apply. Let me show you why.

So.

It's a picture of trees. Skipping like calves. It's kind of strange. But then Lebanon and Syrian mountains. Like a young unicorn. So you picture a unicorn jumping around kind of like mom pictured deer.

You know or calves or cattle. Jumping around it's strange terminology. But what it is is it's showing immovable objects. Innate objects. A tree a mountain. Things that don't typically move. They are steadfast.

Prancing with life. It's not only an unfathomable power. It's a joyous result. So we too were immovable and dead in our transgressions. But he quickened us and raised us up to walk in newness of life.

Think about that if someone raised a dead body up out of the grave and you were standing there. I Think you'd be a little bit freaked out. It'd be kind of a terrible power, you know, like frightening.

Imagine when Jesus raised Lazarus Lazarus out of the out of grave. Lazarus come forth, you know and out comes zombie Lazarus. You know here he comes. Everybody would be pretty weirded out. Like I think you'd be a little uneasy like what in the world just happened.

But at the same time it'd be like he's alive. Yeah. Whoa, yeah, whoa, you know, like it's terrifying and it's amazing at the same time. That's the kind of power that God's Word has on human life. It's it's a terrifyingly awesome and beautiful power.

The Word That Breaks, Exposes, and Gives Life

The voice of the Lord. Verse 7 the voice of the Lord divided the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shake it the wilderness. The Lord shake it the wilderness of Kadesh there it is again the voice of the Lord the voice of the Lord and the Lord.

It's a mixing of the Word and the Spirit here it's his presence it's his word in Conjunction there's power but guess what? It's always gonna be that way. There has to be the conjunction of the Word and the Spirit.

How do we know Jesus told the Pharisees use you search the scriptures? What are the scriptures God's Word for in them you think you have eternal life? But they are they which speak of me see apart from Jesus.

The Word has zero power apart from the the Spirit of God. It has nothing it is nothing. That's why before you were saved. It's kind of like a boring thing. Don't read it was like Okay, well, this is an interesting story.

You might like it for the story. My grandfather was that way he told us one time. Is pops dad he told me one time I love the Bible it's a great story. But he described it as a story, you know, I don't know if it ever became living and active in Grancer's life.

I hope it did pop was I think really ministering to Grancer while he was on his deathbed. So I like to think maybe something got through. He used to say You know Noah, this is my grandfather. At least before it before he was saved if he was saved.

He'd say Noah was the worst Naval captain of all times because he was a naval captain and I'd say why he'd say he managed to hit the one rock sticking up out of the entire world of water.

Always thought that was funny.

But.

Yeah.

Great question. The voice of the Lord divided the flames of fire. Well, what is lightning? It's electrical charge. It's essentially and it's an in a sense of flame. It's a flash and it is.

So.

Incredibly hot like when when lightning strikes it can heat the air around it to temperatures significantly hotter than the surface of the Sun. It reaches temperatures up to 50 ,000 degrees Fahrenheit and as the now scorching air That is touched by the lightning as it encounters the cool air around it.

And the air that is not yet touched by lightning the rapid cooling produces a sound wave which we know is thunder and It is this interaction between the scorching hot lightning charged air and the air around it that produce that Announces the power of lightning.

And think about that for a second scorching hot air touched by the lightning Interacting with the air that is not yet touched by the lightning and that announces the power of God. No wonder when we are touched by the power of the Word of God and by the Spirit with which we are quickened.

Our hearts aflame we are urged to share what we have learned and proclaim the gospel Which is the power of God unto salvation? We are called to be like James and John who for their fiery zeal were named the sons of thunder and Luke.

Chapter 24. We see Jesus appear to the two disciples. But their eyes were holding where they knew him not. What did he do? Y 'all remember what he did as they're walking on the road to Emmaus? These two disciples they don't recognize Jesus this is after he's been crucified and he's risen and This man appears and they don't recognize him as Jesus.

What's that man do with them? He he talks a little bit with them asks what's going on? They tell him have you not heard and then he begins to just unpack Scripture to them and show them.

How.

Everything they've experienced was foretold by God's Word. So what is this? This is the Word of God being spoken by the person of God.

To.

The disciples. Yeah by the Living Word, right. The Word the written Word of God spoken by the Living Word of God. That's a great way to put it and. Then he vanishes. And do you remember what those disciples said and they said one to another did not our hearts burn within us.

While he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures. It's the lightning at work. Then he later appears to the whole group. This is in verse 45 of Luke chapter 24.

And.

It says in verse 45 then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. And then if you skip on down to verse 48 It says and ye are witnesses of these things and behold I send my the promise of my father.

What's that the Holy Spirit? I? Send the promise of my father upon you that's not just the voice. But the Lord himself in spirit saying I'm gonna send the comforter they hit the Holy Spirit. Now what's gonna happen when they receive the Holy Spirit?

He tells them but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high and On the day of Pentecost when that happens and they are endued with power. What's the sign of that power flame?

Above their heads. What is the result? Verse 52 in Luke chapter 24 and they worshipped him and Returned to Jerusalem with great joy skipping trees and dancing mountains. That's the result of the Miraculous and terrifyingly awesome power of God through his word and through his spirit.

Verse 53 Says and we're continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen to enter the temple. You had to be purified. Which means you had to be holy. To remain in the temple continually was to remain in a state of holiness.

What does true worship look like. It looks like the beauty of holiness? Looks like obedience. Now let us to be continually in the temple continually sanctified. A Sanctified Christian is like the 50 ,000 degree hot air because God's Word has touched his life.

When we become sanctified and we go into the world around us there is this mark of the lightning of God's powerful word. We should look and sound different and it should shake the world around us. It's the Lord that does it.

The Lord Who Calms Chaos and Gives Peace

Verse 9 the voice of the Lord make it the hinds to calve. What does that mean? Hinds are deer you'll remember we've seen the hind terminology in a previous song. It's a type of deer and when this deer runs its front feet and its back feet hit in the identical spot and David tells the Lord make me as the hinds feet.

In other words like where you go I want to go exactly where you go. You say where to walk. I will guide you There and So we have here the voice of the Lord make it the hinds to calve. This is like It's part of the terminology that's like powerful and great like the voice of God.

It's almost like a picture of the the deer. Like being terrified but also giving birth. So like it's it's as if this terrible Awesome power of God brings life. Dance and twirl and travail. Yeah even uses a word like twist.

So the voice of the Lord make it the hinds to calve. It brings life and then it says did you want to say something about not just to say it also means to.

Bear, you know do be born to be born. Yep.

The next part of the verse 9 says in discovereth the forests. Which means it strips the thicket bear. So not only does it bring life it also exposes truth. So what. Like how is the power? Of God's Word manifest it is manifest in that it brings life and it exposes truth.

And In his temple doth everyone speak of his glory. What happens when lightning strikes. You jump and you look for the lightning, right? Doesn't that happen like you're just driving along and crack. You hear the thunder.

Maybe you see a flash out of the corner of your eye. What do you do? You look over there? The voice of the Lord attracts attention so when it brings life and exposes truth. Attention will follow it absolutely will.

Verse 10 the Lord sitteth upon the flood. Yeah, the Lord sitteth King forever. Chaos comes and brings a flood. I imagine the typhoon pop was describing like lightning and thunder and rain and Cracking of wood and wind and then the water carrying trees away in the wind carrying trees away and when a flood comes.

It's devastating. Have you ever seen like a video of? Like a typhoon or a tidal wave hitting like everything just gets Carried away trees Buildings cars, it just it's as if they're paper just it just takes them.

That's a very terrifying thing and yet the Lord sits upon it. He brings order to it. Isaiah 41 10 says fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee.

Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. See we are upheld by the Lord's obedience. By Jesus's obedience to the Father. That's what upholds us. Now we can take that example of Jesus and Read his word.

Connect with his spirit and we can. We can have it in effect on the world around us through our obedience to him. Verse 11 the Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Value God. For your value is derived from him. Worship him with godly obedience. Submit to the Word of God as his spirit interprets it to you. Like a lightning bolt striking a tree there will be an unmistakable mark left behind on your life.

The fire of God's Word as displayed through your life. Will rumble and shake the seemingly immovable institutions of the world. Chaos May indeed ensue when the attention goes on the exposed truth. The enemy will crash upon us like a flood.

But God is our might and our strength and he rules the storm. He thunders in the face of his enemies and his people have peace.

On a.

Finish today's study. Well, we got through it quick. That was not bad. With a Quote, I'm literally just gonna read Spurgeon's commentary on verse 11 here. Power was displayed in the hurricane whose course this psalm so grandly pictures and.

Now in the cool calm after the storm the power is promised to the strength of the Chosen. He who wings the unerring bolt will give to his redeemed the wings of eagles. He who shakes the earth with his voice will terrify the enemies of his saints and give his children peace.

Why are we weak when we have divine strength to flee to? Why are we troubled when the Lord's own peace is ours? Jesus the mighty God is our peace. What a blessing. Is this today? What a blessing it is or what a blessing it will be to us in that day of the Lord Which will be in darkness and not light to the ungodly.

Dear reader, it is not is not this a noble psalm to be sung in stormy weather. Can you sing amid the thunder. Will you be able to sing when the last thunders are let loose and Jesus judges quick and dead if you are a believer.

The last verse is your heritage and surely that will set you singing. I.

Think that's pretty cool.

So that's Psalm 29. Yes, glad we got through it. Any comments. Yes.

Yeah.

Thank you, well, thanks, well it was it was fun to to read and The Lord did a lot of it kind of last minute because I was also a lot in in Tradeway stuff this week. I Pondered it a lot this week and it was one of those weeks where you go.

What am I supposed to get out of this? Until later in the week and it was like that's what you're supposed to get out of this. Here it is. Yes, ma 'am.

Look at the force you've been out there. It was a beautiful pristine forest and now it's been touched by storms, you know.

Get the trees falling and stuff.

Everywhere and and and then. Route. Lightning is hit some of the trees and you can see all the damage. But you also know that if you were just away, I'll let all of that fall.

Mm-hmm.

That's cool.

I realize When I'm praying and God brings something to my mind. If you know the Word of God It does come back to Scripture. Mm-hmm, and the Scriptures will come. You don't stay in the Word of God.

You're missing half of the experience. Yeah, it's true. Yeah.

The.

Probably the most important half.

You know.

Cuz faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You need that peace. That's good. Anything else? All right, let's pray pop. Do you mind dismissing us?

You're having the father Lord. We just thank you for your word the power of the world.

For the shakes.

Takes our lives Brings light to our life Separates the life our lives. David his willingness to I would be a word and learn share Service today.

Touch our hearts. Amen. Thanks for being here y 'all.