Suttons Bay Congregational Church
Psalm 29
January 18, 2014
The Rev. Dr. Robin L. Long
It was a dark and stormy night. The wind pushed against the walls of houses and stables, it howled in
the trees like a chorus of wolves. Rain came down in sheets, pelting the dry earth, striking so hard that
the sand danced on the ground where it fell. Until, the sand grew heavy with moisture and the waters
rose and the wadis widened and the wind whipped it all into a magnificent storm. Thunder shook the
ground under their sleeping mats and lightening illuminated even the darkest parts of the night sky. It
was an awesome storm-scary to young children and dogs of a certain constitution, scary but also a little
exhilaratingly to the adults experiencing it. The storm raged into the night but finally, in the wee hours of
the morning, the angry downpours became gentle showers and the winds eased, calm was restored. And
when they woke the next morning they found possessions strewed around their yards, trees upturned,
and flood waters at the threshold of their homes but they were relieved . . . and they were thankful . . . the
storm was over, they made it through. And they sang to God . . .
2 Bravo,
GOD, bravo!
Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the glory,
in awe before God’s visible power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your best to honor him!
3 GOD thunders across the waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming
brightness—
GOD, across the flood waters.
4 GOD’s thunder tympanic,
GOD’s thunder symphonic.
5 GOD’s thunder smashes cedars,
GOD topples the northern cedars.
6 The
mountain ranges skip like spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.
7-8 GOD’s thunder spits fire.
GOD thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.
9 GOD’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips
their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”
10 Above the floodwaters is GOD’s throne
from which his power flows,
from which he rules the world.
11 GOD makes his people strong.
GOD gives his people peace.
Do you know this feeling, this feeling of having witnessed the great power of a big storm? While storms
can bring a sense of awe and wonder there’s an edginess to them because a storm of consequence offers
us a quick reminder of the inconvenient truth that, in so many ways, we are not in charge. Anyone trying
to drive in the white outs a couple of Wednesday mornings ago surely felt the limitations of their own
mortal powers. One of the vehicles I saw trying to make its way through the storm was an SUV of
enormous size that I’m pretty sure cost more than my condo. It was decked out with all kinds of chrome
and extra accessories, including a ginormous flood light on its roof designed to light up two tracks in
remote regions of deserts and jungles. But there it was on the top of the SUV traveling north on 22 and
even that vehicle with all of its upgrades and safari features was slowed to a crawl in the blinding
whirlwind of snow. After witnessing the power of that storm, and having grown up in Northwest Ohio
where the summer thunderstorms make an impression on the eye and the ear as they come pounding
across the fields, I have a healthy respect for weather-related storms.
Now some say that God creates these storms and indeed that seems to be the viewpoint of the author
of Psalm 29. This author ascribes to God, gives to God, all the glory for the storm they have just endured.
There are others who say that not only is God the source of the storm but also that God sends the storm
as punishment for some wrongdoing (these are usually the folks who further victimize the victims of
natural disasters by suggesting on national television that the storm is a result of their sin). But the storm
coming as punishment does not seem to the case in Psalm 29 as, in this situation, the storm seems to be
welcomed, a blessing, because it brought an end to a long drought. And so it is that some say that God
sends storms as either blessing or punishment and there are scriptures that support these view points.
But, it is not a theology that I espouse. Yes, a storm can be a curse and yes a storm can be a blessing but to
consider that either scenario is sent by God as the direct result of human behavior seems a bit too
simplistic to me and any human being claiming to know such a thing is committing an act of hubris. And,
that being said, I’m going to now commit my own act of hubris right now by saying that while I don’t
believe that God sends storms to bless or to punish, after all scripture also tells us that the rains fall on
the just and the unjust, what I do believe based on personal experience, what I do KNOW is that whether
or not God causes the storms, God is WITH us in the storms and in the end, I think that’s all we really need
to know. God is with us in the storm.
Walter Bruggemann is one of North America's leading Old Testament scholars. I had the opportunity to
hear him speak at a conference at Calvin College a few years ago. I was as giddy as a tween at a One
Direction concert sitting in that lecture hall, waiting for him to approach the podium. Hearing Walter
Bruggemann speak in person is a Bible geek's dream come true. That day he was speaking about
preaching on the Psalms. He helped us to remember that while some of what is in the Psalms could be
literal, much of it can also be understood as being metaphorical. I bring this point about metaphor up at
this juncture in the sermon about God being with us in the storm because while we can all relate to what
it's like to be caught up in a weather-related storm, we also know what it is like to be caught in other
kinds of storms-storms of illness, storms of grief, storms of regret, storms of anxiety, storms of
uncertainty . . . We hear the thunder of worry pulse through our heads. We see the flashes of grief in the
faces of people we love and indeed, sometimes in our own faces when we gaze into a mirror. And while I
don’t want to forget that the angels of the Lord are right there with me the next time I find myself driving
through a white out, I also don’t want to forget, and I don’t want you to forget, that God is with us in the
other kinds of storms as well. God is with us when we feel like we’ve lost all control and we’re nearing the
end of our rope. God is with us when all of our smarts, all of our strength, and all of our wealth can’t seem
to help. God is with us. And that is the Good News that Dr. Bruggemann so beautiful articulates in his
commentary on Psalm 29 when he writes “So it is the powerful voice of Yahweh, [the powerful voice of
God], named repeatedly [in this Psalm], which moves decisively and forcefully to undo the old order and
to tame the forces of chaos. . . . Yahweh is shown to be more powerful than all that resists Yahweh. It is a
psalm that speaks about order in a way that overrules all anxiety about life, and the very act of
singing the song is itself a practice of that new order.”1
And so it is that God accompanies us through the storm and, in the end, creates a new order, a new
reality, a new peace. And while we continue to feel pain and grief around our losses, we know that, in
God’s Kingdom, pain and grief and anxiety and regret and death itself NEVER GET THE FINAL WORD!
Indeed, at some point, all storms come to an end and we glimpse the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in
heaven. And when the Psalmist glimpsed that heaven, this song, this psalm was written to give God
thanks and praise that the storm had come to an end and to remind us that, in the end, “The LORD gives
strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace”. Thanks be to God.
1
Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, pg. 142.