Through the Storm

 April 29, 2021

“The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”” —Psalm 29:3-5, 8-9 

It’s been raining all day, so the creek behind our home is angry and swollen. It’s been worse, the water edging toward the top of the bank, but in the eight years we’ve been here, it’s never overflowed. I’ve lived through a flood. Our oldest was born in the middle of a flood that ravaged the entire Southern Tier of New York. Our drive to the hospital was somewhat circuitous, finally ending short of the destination when the rising Allegany River halted our progress. As I was parking our borrowed car, Linda was taken across the flood waters in an Army duck; I managed to follow later, and filled sandbags to help contain the river the next three days and sleeping on a two-person love seat in the hospital at night. Floodwaters are powerful and destructive. 

This psalm gives glory to God in the face of creation’s violence; the waters rise, thunder fills the air, trees are snapped like twigs, the land trembles, and the LORD rules over it all. When this psalm was written, the popular culture worshipped a god named Baal, the fearsome god of the storm. “The LORD,” writes David, “sits enthroned at the flood; the LORD sits as king forever.” As terrifying as a storm can be, even in all its destruction, our God rules; he decides how hard the wind blows, how far the waters rise, where and how the earth splits and quakes.

But David isn’t writing merely about natural disasters here; he speaks also to the crises of our day, the political and social upheaval that at a moment can sweep away the order and structure of society that has been built up for centuries. People today are trembling in fear at the storm raging in our land; that which had seemed so steadfast and secure is yielding to the onslaught of forces seemingly unstoppable. The foundations are being shaken. How are we to respond to such events?

The psalm begins with “Give to the LORD the glory due to his name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (v.2), and ends with, “THe Lord will give strength to his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.” When we begin with worship, when we live in holiness, no matter how furious the storm, our God who rules above the storm and all its false gods, gives strength and peace. It rained all day; the creek rages, but the day began in worship. I’ve found my strength, and am at peace.