For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
    Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
    the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
    and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’

10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord is enthroned as King for ever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
    the Lord blesses his people with peace.

A. Find Out:    

1. What does David say we should recognise? v.1,2
2. What characteristics does he give to the voice of the Lord? v.3,4
3. List the things the voice of the Lord does. v.5-9
4. How does he view the Lord? v.10
5. What does he say the Lord also does? v.11

B. Think:

1. What activity of the Lord does David focus on here?
2. How does this make him think of the Lord?
3. What does he say should be our response?

C. Comment:

   This is the psalm of an outdoor man! It seems that at some time David had been out in the country when a storm broke loose. There was tremendous thunder that seemed to shake the ground, amazing lighting, terrible rain. Even the great cedar trees were lashed and broken, and the oaks beaten down. This was a serious storm!

   As David gazes on this storm he sees in it the work of God. In the Creation God spoke and it was, and similarly here David sees that God speaks and the thunder crashes, God speaks and the lightning blazes, God speaks and the rain pours, and the end result is that the earth is lashed by the power of the Lord. Yes, he sees it as the power of the Lord.

   In the twentieth century most of us have become so materialistic that we see little of the work of God in the Creation around us, we only see the work of the hands of man. Yet this is God’s creation and David sees Him still active in it. David sees God as the Lord who is reigning over His creation, as the King or ruler over all things. That is why David, at the beginning of the psalm, exhorts us to give glory to God and worship Him for His utter different-ness (holiness) for His is so great and so powerful. Recognise the Lord’s greatness is the message David cries out through this Psalm. Do we?

D. Application:

1. Have we become so man-aware and aware of man’s buildings, machines etc. that we have lost sight of God?
2. Give glory to the One who reigns over all things.