The Voice of the Lord

When I went to Boston University School of Theology in the fall of 1986, the first thing they did for incoming students and the faculty and staff was to have us all get on a boat in Boston Harbor and go out to one of the islands and walk around, do an icebreaker exercise to start getting to know each other and have a picnic lunch. I will never forget that one of the questions we had to get an answer for was to ask someone the about the theme of their Ph.d thesis. You have to understand that I looked a lot younger then, I was 22-years-old, and in my total lack of concern for making a good impression on anyone, I was wearing a Colby baseball t-shirt for the occasion. I figured that the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs was a lock to have a Ph.D. so I approached Dr. Simon Parker who was the absolute epitome of a scholar in every way and I asked him what his Ph.D. was about and he replied in his proper British accent, “The translation and interpretation of ancient Ugaritic texts.” My intelligent, scholarly response was, “You’re kidding, what are Ugaritic texts?”

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January 13, 2013
Psalm 29, The Voice of the Lord
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

[vimeo 57374461 w=500&h=375]

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[powerpress]
How I wish I could have snapped a picture of Dr. Parker’s face at that moment. While I’m sure internally he was lamenting the total lack of polish and intellectual rigor that I represented for the incoming class, Dr. Parker was kind enough to take a few minutes to begin explaining to me what Ugaritic texts were and why they were so important to understanding the Hebrew language and the Old Testament and the Psalms in particular. I’m happy to say that by the time I graduated Dr. Parker didn’t feel quite as badly about my acceptance as a student as he did the day we met.

Dr. Parker’s early research concerned Israel’s inheritance from Canaanite culture — as represented especially in Ugaritic literature — and Israel’s transformation of that tradition. I told you all that because Psalm 29 is one of a handful of psalms that have their origin before King David’s time that the Hebrew people adapted from their neighbors.[1] Both Ugaritic and Hebrew poetry reflect a similar kind of parallelism that is also seen in Psalm 29. Thunder, lightning, and storm are how the Canaanite god Baal was manifested to the world. God is described in the same way by the Israelites as Baal was by the Canaanites. Listen to Psalm 29:

“1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor. 3

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!” 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.”

Psalm 29 affirms the fundamental biblical belief that, in the entire universe, there is only God who is above all other creatures and forces – the Lord God of Israel. The God of Israel, “sits enthroned as king forever” (verse 10). Yet God isn’t found riding triumphantly upon the clouds nor wielding thunderbolts in hand as would be the expected norm for ancient gods. What does God use that brings thunder (verse 3), breaks cedars (verse 5), flashes forth flames of fire (verse 7), shakes the wilderness (verse 8), and whirls the oaks and strips the forest bare (verse 9)? Only a voice. But this is hardly any voice. It is the “voice of the Lord.” The psalmist’s seven-fold use of the term points to its importance both here and in the rest of the Bible. In the Hebrew mind, words are far more than rapidly dissipating sound waves. The Hebrew term for “word” also has the concreteness of a “thing” and the dynamic sense of an “event.” Words have substance such that they are able to change the reality into which they enter. There are words that are spoken that change everything: “Will you marry me? Yes. No.” “You have a son. You have a daughter.” A phone call can change our lives for ever. Psalm 29 demonstrates the how the voice of the Lord can enter into a situation and, in doing so, radically change what is taking place. The Bible bears witness to the reality-changing power of God’s voice on a number of occasions. God’s creative work begins with the voice of the Lord speaking words in Genesis 1:3.. “And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” Creation is spoken into being. Words have the power to create and express many things and to bring things to life. The voice of the Lord and our own voices both have the power to bless or curse. Speaking later through Moses, God gives words to Aaron and his sons with which they are to bless the Israelites. The words of the Aaronic Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26) are familiar to many of us. “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Less familiar, however, are those of the following verse (27), “So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Verse 27 points out that in the speaking of these words, the priests are placing God’s very name on the Israelites, and in turn God will bless them.

The voice of the Lord doesn’t have to be loud, like in Psalm 29, to have a significant effect. In 1 Kings 19, on the run from an angry Queen Jezebel who wants him dead, the prophet Elijah arrives at Mount Horeb. Waiting to experience God’s presence, Elijah witnesses great displays of power in wind, earthquake, and fire. Yet, he does not experience God in these. Instead, Elijah’s spirit is uplifted and his faith renewed by the sound of silence or a small whisper. 1 Kings 19:12-13 says, “After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” It is the voice of the Lord. In our own lives, sometimes it isn’t in the loud and noisy, it’s in stillness and quiet, sometimes when we are lying in bed going to sleep or in the early hours of the morning when we may sense God speaking to us.

In Isaiah 43:1, the voice of the Lord may lack the Hollywood-worthy dramatics of Psalm 29, yet the impact on reality is no less powerful. “I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). The verses that follow this declaration are a statement of faith that waters won’t overwhelm and flames won’t consume those declared to be God’s own (verse 2). The voice of the Lord naming us affects our relationship with God and everyone else and a changed relationship changes reality.

In Luke 3:21-22, God enters the human story through spoken words. In Jesus’ baptism, we again hear a voice from heaven speaking and bestowing a name: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). The voice of the Lord speaks, a name is bestowed, and relationships and reality are changed forever. We live in a time where individuals are more inundated with words, both printed and spoken, than ever before in human history. Many of us feel like Eliza Doolite in the musical My Fair Lady, who said in exasperation, “Words! Words! I’m so sick of words! I get words all day through.” A growing array of technological gadgets make words ever more accessible and at the same time harder to escape. While there’s something to be said for convenience, there’s also a danger that words become qualitatively cheapened, quantitatively overwhelming, and even outright annoying. However, scripture, worship, and praise bear witness to how powerful words can be; and passages such as Psalm 29 demonstrate the ultimate power of the words (and the Word) of God. The voice of the Lord, whether in a small whisper or a flame of fire, remains that which enters history and promises to “give strength to his people” and “bless his people with peace” (verse 11).

Have you ever experienced or felt like God was speaking to you? Where were you? What was happening? What did you hear? How were you impacted? Some of us may be better listeners than others, some may be better at paying attention or being attentive to the voice of the Lord. Think of the challenge we sometimes have hearing. Anyone who has a cell phone has probably had calls that dropped or disappeared. It’s sometimes amusing to realize how long we’ve been talking before we realize there is no one on the other end. I sometimes wonder if the Lord is calling us like the guy in the phone commercial, “Do you hear me now?”  Sometimes we say things to people we care about like, “I just needed to hear your voice,” that offers comfort and reassurance. We long for familiar voices. I think hearing in part is being still, like Elijah was at Mount Horeb. If you are very quiet where you live you will still hear many sounds. Have you ever noticed that because our vision is so significant that to truly listen or tune in we will sometimes close our eyes… to be in the present, to block out the visual, so we can hear more closely and truly listen. We can also hear God in the midst of pain and chaos. The “voice of God”, can be quiet, even silent, as we sense God’s presence, through another human being.  We’re often called upon to be the voice and presence of God for other people especially in a crisis.

As most of you know, we had a Memorial Service this past Tuesday for 21-year-old Tony Spaulding and his parents Chris and Randie asked if I would share the following with the congregation. “We want to thank all of the wonderful, caring, people of Brewster Baptist Church for the outpouring of love and support you showed us in the most difficult time of our lives. All of you made this tragedy easier to bear. You touched our hearts with your gifts of time, food, kind words, and condolences. So many stepped in and worked together to make sure the services and luncheon ran smoothly and took so much of the burden from us. We have met people we didn’t really know before, that delivered meals and offered comforting words. So many people who came to the services got to see this love at work and we believe it made quite an impression on their hearts.  Several told us they were going back to church.  We pray that Tony’s death will not be an ending, but a new beginning for many. Psalm 35:22-23 says, “Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent. Do not be far from me, Lord. Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord.”

Even when we don’t feel that God is near, He is there, always always, always! It’s when we don’t feel God’s presence that we get into His True Words for His Words are living and breathe life into us. Deuteronomy 31:6 reminds us, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

We’ve also been comforted by the following words which were found on a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany during the Holocaust – (you may recall our choir has sung an anthem based on these words). “I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent.”

Our testimony is we want everyone to know our God is a God of Love, Hope, Truth, and Faithfulness. He is with us at all times, even when you don’t have the strength to seek him. Even more so. When we are weak, He is strong. He hears our hearts when we have no words. When we surrender all to him and let go completely, God holds us up and takes care of us, with no effort of our own. And God does it beyond our highest expectations. So forever we Praise God’s name and give all the Glory to him, for without the Lord we are nothing.”

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove that you are a good person.” Another voice says, “You’d better be ashamed of yourself.” There also is a voice that says, “Nobody really cares about you,” and one that says, “Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.” But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, “You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.” That’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen. That’s what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us “my Beloved.”

With the many challenging circumstances so many people are facing, I pray that the closing verse of Psalm 29 would become a reality for us in the weeks and months ahead: May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace.”