January 29, 2017: Day 29 – Psalm 29
January 29, 2017When the psalmist uses the word “ascribe” we ought to understand him basically saying: recognize that the Lord has strength. It is a call to acknowledge who God is. We are not able to give God anything. We cannot be the ones who give him strength, we cannot give him glory as if it is ours to give or as if it is ours to own and then dole out as we please. God embodies glory, strength, honor, all of those things. We are only able to recognize it.
Are you able to identify the one word that is used more than any other in this psalm? Do you see the word voice? Seven times in this psalm the word voice is used. We see the voice of God consistently in Scripture and it is a concept that we ought to look at more closely. Do you remember how God created the heavens and the earth? Look back at Genesis 1 and what you will see is a repetition of these words: “And God said…”, from the mouth of God, the voice of God when it speaks, creates. This is crucial not just for the Old Testament understanding of who God is, but even in the Old Testament.
Do you remember how Jesus is identified in John 1? In the beginning was the…Word. Again, the voice of God speaks and he comes to take on human flesh in the incarnation. The voice of God speaks and we see Him create powerfully and become one of us. The psalmist uses the voice of God to describe a creative strength that is beyond measure and beyond what we are able to comprehend.
At the end of this psalm after we have seen the amazing marvelous things that God is able to do, the Psalmist asks that we might be able to draw from some of that glory and in turn receive some of that blessing from that power. The author asks for strength and peace. We don’t find a request for riches or celebrity status, but rather for strength and peace. What a humble request. That we may all wish the same.
Some might say they never hear the “voice” of God. For me, I look at my thoughts. When I am going down the road and suddenly that thought comes to me that says take this route, not that one. Then I find out later that the original route had a very bad accident that would have occurred at the time I would have been on that route. Or when you get a thought in your head that you suddenly need to call someone and when you do, you find out that your calming presence on the phone was exactly what that person needed at that time. These thoughts, to me, are the voice of God. You never know when He is going to speak, so the challenge is to always be open to listening.