God is more powerful than any other being, dead or alive. More powerful than anything in all creation! All in all, Psalm 29 leaves no doubt who God — Yahweh — “the LORD” — is and that He alone should be worshiped. Let’s dig in…
Psalm 29
A psalm of David.
1 Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings;
honor the Lord for his glory and strength.
2 Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.3 The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.
The God of glory thunders.
The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars;
the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf;
he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with bolts of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks[c]
and strips the forests bare.
In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”10 The Lord rules over the floodwaters.
Psalm 29 NLT
The Lord reigns as king forever.
11 The Lord gives his people strength.
The Lord blesses them with peace.
Powerful Lightning Dream
Back in the summer of 2020, I had a dream where I was sitting on a couch looking out the window behind it. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck straight down about half a block away, then moved toward me. It came through the window — not breaking the glass — and stopped about arm’s length in front of me. I was trying to back away from it and it didn’t come closer. Then I woke up.
Funny, but I don’t remember the sound of thunder. Of course, I searched in the Bible app for lightning and verse 7 in this psalm came up. I then saw the dream as an affirmation to keep doing what I’m doing and continue to share the true Gospel of Jesus Christ — the LORD — and King of the storms.
I’ve lived through 6 hurricanes in my lifetime. (Which is why I live in Arizona!) I lived in Florida for 17 years and just this week, watched yet another hurricane hit their east coast. Hurricane Nicole was only a category 1, but it devastated many homes on the shoreline of the Daytona Beach area in Volusia County. Just weeks prior, was Hurricane Ian, a Cat 4 that devastated the west coast.
Are these storms God showing us His power?
Or are they just because we live in a fallen, broken world since the Fall of Man in Genesis 3? I don’t know and I’m not going to speculate. All I know is that God is omnipotent — all-powerful — and I’m going to try my heartfelt hardest to obey Him and stay in His Word — His Truth. Maybe He’s trying to get our attention?🤔
Where is the Gospel?
The folks at Spoken Gospel explain…
David often talks about God as the one who is in control of storms. In part, that’s because Israel often wrongly worshiped the god Baal—the Canaanite god of storms. Psalms like this reminded Israel that Yahweh ruled the storms—and Baal did not. The seemingly unstoppable forces of nature can be calmed with the simple voice of the Lord.
It’s significant that Jesus calms a storm with his voice too (Luke 8:24). In every Gospel account that records it, Jesus “rebukes” the storm as if it were a demonic god oppressing his people (Mark 4:39). Jesus does what the divine Voice of the Lord did during Noah’s flood—he brings peace and blessing where there was once chaos and fear (Psalm 29:11).
That’s why the disciples are terrified when they ask among themselves on the boat, “Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41). There is only one being who can calm storms—the terrifyingly powerful God.
Jesus is the storm-calming God. But Jesus doesn’t calm hurricanes and flatten waves for the fun of it. His power over the storms points us to the truth that he’s the God who calls our dead hearts to life (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5). More impressive than calming a storm or walking on water is the miracle of raising a sinner from the depths of the dead and seating him at his right hand (Ephesians 2:6). Just as Israel shouted “glory” to God for saving them in the storm, we praise Jesus for the voice that saves us from a watery grave (Psalm 29:9).
Jesus is King of Storms. So bow to him and rejoice! There is no tempest his voice will not calm and there is no grave he can’t empty.
Spoken Gospel
How to Pray Psalm 29
Honor the Lord, you heavenly angels; honor the Lord for his glory and strength. I will honor the Lord for the glory of his name. I will worship Him in the splendor of his holiness.
The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders over the mighty sea.
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.
The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.
The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake.The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.
In his church we shout, “Glory!”The Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as King forever. The Lord gives me strength. The Lord blesses me with Shalom — Your peace that surpasses all understanding! I worship and praise You only, Jesus, my Savior, Redeemer, Lord and King! Amen.
Paraphrase on Psalm 29 by Giselle Aguiar
Who do YOU Worship?
Below the storm clouds, on earth, there is panic, there is chaos, there is fear. Above the storm, in Heaven, there is peace. Isn’t it best that we only worship, venerate, adore, and honor Jesus Christ?
Jesus is the Rock
Every time I see a storm eat away at a shoreline like what happened in Florida, it brings to mind the ending lesson in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said…
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.
Matthew 7:24-29 NLT
Read and study the Bible for yourself. His Word, which is more powerful than a 2-edged sword, has authority, and is as powerful as lightning! Don’t settle for the lies, and the false, twisted, and watered-down Gospel messages taught in many so-called “Christian” churches. Seek the truth.
Jesus didn’t suffer torture and die, carrying the weight of all our sins— God’s wrath — so we could have religion! He died so He could have a Personal Relationship with YOU!
Isn’t it about time you let Him in?
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…
Believe. Repent. Be Baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit.
- Believe — have Faith — that Jesus is the Christ and He died taking your sins away forever and that He rose from the dead 3 days later.
- Repent of your sins — stop sinning! Do a complete 180-degree turn in your life and surrender your life to Him. When you ask Jesus to forgive you He will. ALL your sins will be wiped clean — past, present, and future! And All means ALL!
- Be Baptized by water baptism — show the world and yourself that you have died to your old life and are born again in Christ.
- Receive the gift of Holy Spirit in your heart.
