Psalms 29:10-11 (ESV)
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
Six time in Psalm 29 David declares something about the power of God’s voice. He is singing about the power of God and our ability to experience that power in our lives. Note how he starts the song:
Psalms 29:1-4 (ESV)
A PSALM OF DAVID.
Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
David uses the experience of thunder and the storm to declare God’s mighty power. He tells us that God’s voice is over the waters. This brings us to the above verses where David tells us that during the flood, God sat enthroned over the Noahic flood. The Hebrew word for flood used here is only used one other time in the Old Testament and that is the flood during Noah’s day. The picture David draws for us is to think about how God’s power is in control of chaotic events. A storm seems so unpredictable. You don’t know where the wind is coming from, or where it will stop. You don’t know where the lightning will strike. You can’t predict what the flood waters will do. Yet, to David’s point, God is in control of it all.
When Isaiah was writing to Israel and warning them about things to come, he wrote about a future ruler named, Cyrus. This Cyrus (who actually did accomplish the things Isaiah prophesied) was to come and bring calamity on the world, including Israel. (God calls Cyrus by name before Cyrus was even conceived.) God was going to discipline Israel, at the hands of Cyrus. He would also deliver them, at the hands of Cyrus. Note what Isaiah says about this ruler, who wouldn’t know God, but would be used by God:
Isaiah 45:5-7 (ESV)
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
God used Cyrus to both make well-being and create calamity. This is the storm. This is the thunder and the flood that display God’s power. Cyrus would be God’s tool for calamity, but God would still be in control. He controls the storms we experience. Right down to the very last rain drop, lighting strike, thunder sound and flood water. It may look like calamity to us, but God uses it for His purpose. His power is so great He can even send and control the snow storm:
Psalms 147:16-18 (NASB)
He gives snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes.
He casts forth His ice as fragments;
Who can stand before His cold?
He sends forth His word and melts them;
He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.
As unpredictable as a storm to us, so powerful and predictable is His power for us. Never forget that. He controls it all and uses the storms in our lives to give us a glimpse of His majestic power.
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