Praying for Worship
For Meditation (Nathan Walton)
In Psalm 29, we are all drawn into a scene where God reveals himself through power and peace. We see and hear a majestic God who demonstrates his power and sovereignty over all of creation, and somehow the grandeur of God is a conduit for conveying God’s gentleness and blessing. Ultimately this psalm, and all of life, is about worship. Worship requires that we pursue a true understanding of who God is, so that we can worship God in Spirit and in Truth. This sermon will challenge us to surrender our preconceived notions about God and to resist the urge to sanitize or domesticate God in our lives. Reflecting on Psalm 29 reminds us that God is loving, powerful, holy, and just. Yet God’s power, holiness, and justice are actually means by which God reveals himself as a God of love and peace. This sermon not only challenges us to gain an accurate understanding of God but calls us to lead lives that accurately reflect the God we claim to worship.
In preparation for this Sunday, you are invited to consider a few questions: How has my understanding of God’s character been shaped? What experiences have been most formative for how I view God and how I believe that God views me? How might my perception of God need to be reshaped? What does the way I live say about the type of God that I serve? How are communal practices, whether in church liturgy or habits within my home, shaping how the communities I belong to understand and encounter God? Lastly, you are invited to prayer, that God would speak, and that God would give us hears to hear him.
Psalm 29:1–11
1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.