The Voice Over the Waters

The Psalm walks through a thunderstorm. Seven times the voice of the LORD breaks over the lines, like rolling crashes over a roof. The voice is on the waters, the voice breaks the cedars, the voice flashes flames of fire, the voice shakes the wilderness, the voice strips the forests. And the Psalm asks us to do what no one normally does in a storm — to stay inside the temple courts with him and worship. "In his temple all cry, 'Glory!'" Outside, creation is being shaken. Inside, the people of God are bowing low and naming what they hear. The same voice that bends the great trees in the storm is the voice that bent the morning at creation and will bend every knee at the last day. The Psalm trains us to hear thunder as a syllable of glory.

The voice that thundered over the waters at creation has spoken among us now in flesh. The Lord Jesus is the Voice of the LORD made audible — the Word who stood up in a fishing boat and said "Peace, be still" to the waves, and the waves obeyed. The voice that breaks cedars also calms storms; the voice that flashes fire also speaks pardon to the harlot and the thief. And the Psalm ends with the quietest of the seven thunders: "May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!" That is what His voice has done in His Son. The storm has been answered for us. The crash has spent itself on the cross. And to His people, in the inner room, the same voice now speaks peace — strength for the day, blessing for the road. The cry inside the temple is the same as the cry outside it, but it is finally heard for what it is: Glory.