The Certain in the Midst of Uncertainty

“Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for his glory and strength. Honor the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning. The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare. In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!” The Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as king forever. The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.” (Psalm 29: 1-11, NLT)

She knows the phone will soon ring and the verdict will soon be announced: malignant or benign. She hopes against hope that the chemo will not have to resume. Yet, the anxiety over her past battle with lung cancer forces the pattern of her thought process in a particular direction.

He worked all day on the farm, showered, and then he and his wife jumped into the car in hopes of catching their grandson’s entire baseball game. Suddenly, a nauseated sickness forces the car back to the house. Within a few hours they head to the emergency room at Jacksonville Hospital, and from there to Regional Medical Center at 3:00 am. The diagnosis that soon followed led the doctor’s to say, “We’re going to remove 20-30 inches of your colon. You have cancer, and we suspect it did not originate there. We suspect it will be found in your lungs.

“As soon as an ambulance is secured, we will be coming home. Hospice is already in place.” Over the last few weeks the bleeding ulcer and complications from diabetes sent them to UAB Hospital where the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was made. Now “going home” will never be the same. After less than twenty-four hours at home serious complications force them back to UAB Friday afternoon.

That should be enough ministry for one week. And yet the needs continue. A doctor’s appointment may reveal cancer has returned for another family. A widow grieves herself to sleep since her husband passed away a few weeks ago. A family looks to move following the loss of a job. A guest shares her diagnosis from the doctor: serious disease. No wonder I have felt the need to go to the golf course and just “walk it off.”

Then the Lord reminded me of something precious one morning this week in our family bible reading from Psalm 29. This is a very significant psalm that mentions the “Lord” eighteen times. If you add the use of pronouns and the mention of God and King you have 25 references in 11 verses.

The psalm begins in heaven where the angels are called to pour out their praises to the Lord. They are called to worship the Lord. Why? They are called to worship Him, because He reigns over the heavens.

Then we see his reign over the storms in verses 3-9. Each time I read this psalm, my mind goes to some of the storms I have seen and experienced. David describes a storm arising over the Mediterranean Sea to the north, sweeping down the entire length of Canaan, and then disappearing over the desert to the south.

I love the phrase “the voice of the Lord.” “The voice of the Lord” is used 7 times, 3 times in reference to water. The voice of the Lord is powerful and majestic. Nobody can escape the sound of His voice. Today God speaks through His Word, the Scriptures.

John Phillips says, “God speaks through His Word. He speaks in dreams to those who do not have His Word. He speaks in the stars, and he speaks in the storms. He speaks when a baby is born, when death visits a home. He speaks in a still, small voice and in thunderous tones. His is the voice upon many waters.”

The New Living translation describes the reigning Lord in graphic detail: “echoes, thunders, powerful, majestic, splits, shatters, etc.” How can anyone doubt his sovereign reign over all creation?

What are the people doing who have witnessed the storm? They are in the temple praising God. David says in effect, “And in his temple everyone shouts, Glory!” If this is right, then the praise already begun in heaven (v.1-2) is echoed by the people of God who have seen his glory in the storm. In the final two verses the storm has passed, but God remains as the enthroned King of the universe. The earth may have been shaken as well as the people who live on it, but God is not shaken.

Dear ones, God is sovereign and He is sufficient! He wants to bring us to the place where we acknowledge that he is King. He is to be King of every thought and action. God has presided over every past storm, as well as every storm to come.

David closes this psalm, after revealing God’s power over nature, that we can trust God to give us peace and strength to weather the storms of life. The storms of life may rage, but we have peace. John Phillips describes verse 11 as a “rainbow covering all.” That is truly what God offers us – peace in the midst of the storm. God says, “In these uncertain days, trust Me! In these anxious moments, take My peace upon you.” Hold on to the certain in the days of uncertainty.”

Holding On With You,

Dr. Derek