Storms

STORMS (Given on February 3 – Sunday Evening Service)

A Psalm of David. Psalms 29:1-11 (From the New Living Translation)

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 and strips the forests bare. In his Temple, everyone shouts, “Glory!"

10. The Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as king forever.

11. The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.

1) God is at the heart of Psalm twenty-nine.

a) This short psalm only has eleven verses, but it has twenty-five references to God.

b) If there is one main theme of this Psalm it would be the Sovereignty of God.

2) When David wrote this, I can imagine him in the desert, watching over a flock of sheep when a thunderstorm comes up.

a) We've all been in thunderstorms.

b) When we know we're safe from lightning and can watch the storm it can be very exciting.

3) At any given moment, there are about 2,000 thunderstorms going on around the world.

a) The typical thunderstorm is 15 miles in diameter and lasts an average of 30 minutes.

b) Many people believe the shorter they last & the farther away they are, the better.

i) There used to be a lot of beliefs and traditions about storms.

c) I was raised as a Catholic and when storms came my Mom used to sprinkle the house with "holy water" at the first sign of thunder or lightning. I don’t know if that was protection, but it got us wet.

d) In the past almost every farm home or even homes in town would have storm cellars where they would go when the weather looked bad. You don't see many storm cellars these days.

4) Back to Psalm 29.

5) David is sitting the storm out, maybe under a tree, or in a cave.

a) While he watches the lightning and hears the thunder he writes this Psalm about the Glory of God over all His creation.

b) With every clap of thunder he probably said, "That's My God!"

6) Look at verses 1-2, we see the call to all the angels in heaven to Worship God.

a) "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."

b) This is a call to all the angelic hosts to Praise God for the things He has done, what He is doing and

what He is going to do.

7) The 2nd part of verse 2 says, "Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness."

i) It's like Psalm 96:9: "Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth."

ii) If we are to worship God in His holiness, we should be holy.

iii) Reference: I Peter 1:16: "Be holy, for am holy!"

b) Micah 4:5, "For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever."

i) Jesus said to "ask in His Name" and if we asked anything in His Name, He would do it. (John 14:13-15)

ii) There is more to it than just asking "in His Name'.

iii) When we ask in His Name we are also expected to ask in the character of His Name.

iv) What does that mean?

v) It means this, our Provider Jesus is Holy.

vi) In order for Him to bless us and answer our prayers we should ask Him in the holiness of character,

which means to ask without sin in our life.

vii) That means to ask forgiveness of sins before asking for anything else.

8) Next: David hears the thunder and says it is the Voice of the Lord.

a) The phrase "the Voice of the Lord" is used 7 times so we could say that Psalm 29 is the Psalm of the 7 Thunders of God.