David knows what it is to be a king: to have loyal servants, and strong armies, and riches untold. Nevertheless, he recognizes that all his power is as nothing compared to the power, and glory, and majesty of God, and he rightly bows before God in worship. In Psalm 29, David writes of “the voice of the LORD” six times in seven verses. God is the one true king of the cosmos, the one whose very word rules all of reality. We see the power of the Lord’s voice compared to the power of a great storm (v.3-9) and even to the miracle of birth (v.9). The Lord’s voice is sovereign over water (v.3), wind (v.5), and fire (v.7); sovereign over plants (v.5) and animals (v.9); sovereign over populated areas (v.5) and barren wastelands (v.8); sovereign even over life itself (v.9).
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” (Revelation 4:8). Lord of Lords, King of Kings, we bow before you. We declare: “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven…the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.” (Nehemiah 9:6). Lord, truly we marvel at your sovereign power.
Lord, when we think of power, we think of the deep, booming sound of thunder, which sometimes shakes our windows by the sheer force of its sound. When we think of power, we think of hurricane winds that snap trees in two as easy as if they were mere twigs. When we think of power, we think of tornadoes that rip off roofs and floods that sweep homes right off their foundations. Yet your voice is more powerful than any storm, more powerful even than the windstorms on Jupiter, with wind speeds twice the fiercest hurricanes on earth.
Your voice created all the cosmos. Your voice authored all life. Your voice sustains all things. David’s praise of your power ends with his reflection: you, O Lord, use your power for good, to give strength to your people. One day, your power will pave the way for us to live in peace forever. Because of this, O Lord, we praise your sovereign power, and we worship you. Amen.
