Voice



Prayer: Before You, Lord, we bow, Our God who reigns above
And rules the world below, Boundless in pow’r and love.
Our thanks we bring In joy and praise,
Our hearts we raise To You, our King!

Read: Psalm 29
http://www.esvbible.org/Psalm 29:1-11

Think about It: Throughout the Old Testament, there is one “god” in particular who is mentioned over and over as a false idol and a sinful people bow down to worship him. That god is Baal. The Children of Israel are exposed to Baal worship already in the book of Exodus as they spend nearly 400 years as the slaves of the Egyptians. The worship of Baal was witnessed by them daily and when God freed them from the Egyptians, unfortunately they took those worship ideas with them into the wilderness. When Moses comes down from Mt. Sinai having received the Ten Commandments from God Himself, the people have decided they would rather worship Baal than the Living God.  Moses was so angry with them that he busted the stone tablets that had been     written on by the hand of God.

Elijah does battle with the Baal worshipers as well on Mt. Carmel as he challenges them to a duel to see which “god” is real. Baal can’t generate so much as some smoke over the altar his priests build. God burns not only the animal sacrifice, but the wood, the stones, the water poured upon the altar, and the very dirt upon which the altar stood.

One of Baal’s attributes was that he was the god of storms and   thunder. In the reciting of this Psalm, David’s words fly right in the face of that belief as he declares that Yahweh is the God of thunder and     lightning. Yahweh’s voice thunders and destroys anything that stands in His path. Yahweh has the power to blow Baal away completely. In fact, what He declares is that Baal doesn’t exist at all. God doesn’t even have to lift a pinky finger. All he need do is speak a word and cedar trees break into pieces. God’s voice is so powerful that He was able to create the entire universe just by speaking it into existence. Our false gods (no matter which one you choose) cannot create even a raindrop, to say nothing of thunder and lightning, wind or hail, snow or sunshine!

Finally the Psalm ends with a complete turnaround. “The Lord gives strength to His people: the Lord blesses His people with peace.” After thunder, lightning, wind, and destruction, when it comes to His people God provides strength and peace! We worship a mighty God!

Prayer: May ev’ry mountain height, Each vale and forest green,
Shine in Your Word’s pure light, And its rich fruits be seen!
May ev’ry tongue Be tuned to praise
And join to raise A grateful song.

        Earth, hear your Maker’s voice;  Your great Redeemer own;
Believe, obey, rejoice,  And worship Him alone.
Cast down your pride, Your sin deplore,
    And bow before The Crucified.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more