The Lord sits Enthroned
I have not always been a fan of thunderstorms. As a child I was horribly afraid. I would have nightmares about tornadoes that were so vivid and frightening. But as I’ve aged, I’ve also grown to appreciate the power and majesty behind a storm. Even last week I sat out on the porch as we had a pretty strong storm roll through this area simply to watch and be in awe. And now I’m trying to teach my children to also appreciate the grandeur in the storm.
Psalm 29 is a psalm about a storm, but more so it is about the God of the storm, and the God who sits enthroned above the the storm. I remember it was the summer of 2000 and I was taking a seminary class while on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU) before heading overseas. And the class I took was on the Psalms and it was taught by Dr. Mark Futato. It was that time that opened my eyes up to the beauty of the Psalter. And Dr. Futato’s favorite psalm to teach on was Psalm 29.
I won’t go through the extent of the psalm but it begins with a call to ascribe, to give glory to the Lord…to give the glory that is due to his name. God is splendid in holiness and majesty and he is due the glory of our praise (and well beyond). And then we see a storm develop. Thunder in the distance. It is powerful and mighty. As it moves across the countryside it shakes the trees and causes the animals to dart for cover. The lightning illuminates the sky.
And the response is that in his temple all cry, “Glory!” (Ps. 29:9c). There is no other appropriate response than to cry out in praise. And then we come to the conclusion.
10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
The word used for flood is the same used of the flood in Noah’s time. The Lord is not off his throne in a time of absolute chaos. The Lord is enthroned. He reigns. Is the Almighty King of Creation. And this enthronement is forever. There is no end. We do not have to worry about a coup that will knock the Lord off his throne.
And as the enthroned King the Lord (as this psalm points out) does two things: he gives strength to his people and he blesses them with peace. He has the power and the resources to do that. And not only can he, but he does. Read through the first 5 verses of Romans 5 and you will see that. We have peace with God through Christ Jesus, and the Spirit has been poured into our hearts.
In the midst of all we are going through (this seems like the past 4 weeks have lasted a wee bit longer than that) God is on his throne. This is not out of his control. We can rest secure in that fact. And in the fact that God loves his children so deeply that he gave Christ so that we could have our sins dealt with and come and fully worship the God of glory.