Following last week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of the Lord’s voice and the privilege we have in being chosen to hear him and be part of what he is doing. Sometimes I can become very casual about the Lord, losing that sense of reverential fear of his majesty and awesome power. It’s incredible that he has chosen us to live in a place of the highest familiarity as his beloved children and closest friends and he longs for us to revel in those truths. But have you, like me, forgotten at times that he is the Almighty?
I read Psalm 29 in my quiet time today and was challenged by the opening words:
Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.
We are those mighty ones and as I read David’s words, I felt an urgency that it is us who need to make it known in this broken and divided world that God is wholly good and glorious in all his ways. To ascribe means to know in the depths of our hearts the truth about something and not to be afraid to speak it out. David continues declaring truths about the power of God’s voice: The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic…the voice of the Lord shakes the desert. . . David is caught up in God’s presence and glory and is full of divine revelation and insight about what happens when God speaks. I long to know God in that way. I’ve had tiny glimpses at times and cry out to him for more and for my vision of his greatness to be enlarged. I so want to be someone who ascribes to God, who he really is without fear or intimidation. I love to hear his voice and often do have prophetic words and pictures, but I can get used to the level I am familiar with.
There is so much more for us all to see and experience of the Lord. He wants to take us from one degree of glory to another. How wonderful that he meets us right where we are, and if we are willing, takes us on our own path of worship and revelation. The Psalm ends with the words The Lord gives strength to his people. The Lord blesses his people with peace. How beautiful that even as he leads us to ‘worship him in the splendour of his holiness,’ he is reaching out to give us strength and peace. And of course, the more we understand how powerful he is, the deeper our peace will be.
I pray you will know the wonder of worshipping him as your Glorious One today and know afresh the amazing power of his voice in your life and as you pray for world situations. And yet hand in hand with that, may you know the deep comfort of his peace and the enabling of his wonderful strength from deep within.
