Psalm 29 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 29 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Verse 2Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor.
Verse 3The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.
Verse 4The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
Verse 5The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
Verse 6He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
Verse 7The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
Verse 8The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
Verse 9The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, "Glory!"
Verse 10The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
Verse 11May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!
Devotion
A letter from an “old” college friend (now a psychiatrist), hypothesized that movies like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings are incredibly popular because people hunger for a greater sense of mystery in life. “With our science and technology we’ve flattened everything out,” he observes. And to some degree I think he’s right. To put a paraphrastic twist on William Shakespeare, “We doth ‘awesome!’ too much”—and thus nothing really is.
The Psalmist writes a wonderful prescription for us. We are invited to put down the numbing news, turn off the blaring radio, shut off the blurred screen and get outside and consider the marvel of God’s creation. That is, to “get outside” of ourselves—to be opened once again, pausing and pondering, as we look up into the night’s sky and the mystery of God’s Big Dipper is poured back into our flattened lives.
Prayer
For your Word, O Lord, that spangled the heavens and signed the earth “in the beginning,” and for your Word that came to “dwell among us,” that still gives creative voice through your Church - grant continued strength to your people, and bless us with your peace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.