Hear His Voice in the Thunder

I wonder what or who comes to mind for you when I mention “the Voice.” Some might think of Whitney Houston. Others, Steve Perry or Frank Sinatra. Of course, it’s also the name of a reality TV singing contest. The show started in September 2010 as “The Voice of Holland” in the Netherlands. But just seven months later, in April 2011, “The Voice” had become an American TV series. It’s now been through 28 seasons.

But memorable as these voices are, my hope for us this morning as we turn to Psalm 29 is that we’d encounter the Voice that makes Whitney Houston and Steve Perry and Blake Shelton and Snoop Dogg seem tiny and trivial.

My prayer this morning is that you might begin to hear the voice of God in a fresh and deeper way. I understand this church is focusing on Bible reading in 2026. I hope that Psalm 29 might help us to tremble at God’s word and be newly amazed at the access we have to his thunderous voice. Like Isaiah 66:1–2:

Thus says the Lord: . . . This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

I want to tremble with fear and great joy at the voice of the Lord, and I want you to join me.

As we read Psalm 29, you heard the “voice of the Lord” refrain that appears seven times and dominates the heart of the psalm. The picture in verses 3–9 is just a glimpse of God’s glory and power: a great storm rises over the Mediterranean Sea, and then comes east over the land of Israel, and begins in the north (Lebanon), and moves south over the land (to Kadesh). (Apparently, this is still true today that thunderstorms in Israel typically move in from the west, from the sea, and come inland and move from north to south.)

I’ll let you know up front where I want us to go as we try to freshly appreciate the gift of having God’s word.

• First we’ll look at the power of his voice (verses 3–9);
  
• then we’ll see the praise of his friends in response (verses 1–2, 9);
  
• and we’ll finish with the strength and peace of his people, including us, and how we might get that strength and peace from his voice (verses 10–11).
  

1. See the Power of God’s Voice

Thunder has long been likened to God’s voice as it echoes from above and almost sounds like God speaking. An important observation for us, which very much relates to where we’re going in a few minutes, is that “the voice of the Lord” is not disconnected or separate from the Lord himself. Verses 5, 6, and 8 show us what the voice of God does, God himself does. And what he does, he does through his voice:

• Verses 5–6: “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon [north] to skip like a calf.” That is, the storm breaks, and humans and animals alike make for shelter. There is no material difference between the word or voice of a righteous person and the person himself — and all the more with our God.
• Verse 8: “The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh [south].” God does it. How does he do it? He just says it, and it happens!

What about these “cedars of Lebanon” in verse 5? These are the greatest of trees in the ancient world, but not only that. Because they were known for their greatness, they also were “the great emblem of proud loftiness” (Robert Alter, Psalms, 99, quoted in Christopher Ash, The Psalms, 2:344).

So, when preaching Psalm 29, the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon stressed that the word of God has “dominion over the most inaccessible of mortals; and when the Lord sends the word, it breaks hearts far stouter than the cedars” (Treasury of David, 1.2:31, quoted in Ash, 2:344). There is no heart beyond the power of God’s word, however hard or high. The thunderstorm is not the extent of his power, but just a flick of his pinky.

With Puritan David Dickson, we might also hear a warning to all given with worldly power:

Of all men [government officials] should be most careful to glorify God, and yet it is most rare to see them humble themselves before him: for natural corruption is as strong in them as in others: Their education breed[s] them to high and stately thoughts of themselves, their riches and power puff them up, and flatterers, ordinarily following them, make them forget themselves and God also. (quoted in Ash, 2:347)

Not only a sinful nature, but education, riches, power, and flatterers all predispose the “cedars” of our world to be conceited. But get this: No heart is too hard for God’s all-powerful word. All he needs to do is speak, and they will be humbled.

So, the power of God’s voice is the power of God himself. And the power of his voice — of one little word — can shatter the seemingly tallest and strongest in nature and in humans.

“I want to tremble with fear and great joy at the voice of the Lord, and I want you to join me.”

What about this strange mention of deer giving birth in verse 9? Depending on your translation, you might have an alternate reading in the margin. The ESV says, “Revocalization yields makes the oaks to shake.” (The NIV has “twists the oaks.”)

Either way, the clear emphasis is on the greatness of God and the greatness of his power. So, verses 3–9 celebrate, in the thunderstorm, God’s greatness, his power, his majesty, tied to his voice, his word.

2. Hear the Praise of His Friends

We said verses 3–9 were the heart of the psalm. The storm rolls in and sweeps across the land with power. And the climax comes in the last part of verse 9:

In his temple all cry, “Glory!”

So, the summit is not the destruction of nature in the aftermath of the storm; the highpoint is the praise of his friends in the palace of heaven — the trembling awe, the thrill, the fearsome wonder of his angels seeing his power in the storm and responding in praise: “Glory!” Imagine that next time a storm rolls in this spring or summer: the angels above watching in awe.

And that praise of verse 9 is a response to the call to worship in verses 1–2:

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
     ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
     worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Did anyone here use the word ascribe in normal conversation this week? Ascribe means to give, but to give with words. It means to acknowledge greatness and admire greatness, and then to say it out loud for others to hear — to speak words of worship and praise. So, verses 1–2 call the heavenly beings, the angels with God in the palace of heaven, to watch the storm and offer praise. The storm rolls in verses 3–9, and verse 9 ends with the climax: “In his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’”

What kind of heart cries, “Glory”? One overflowing with joy. These angels are not unimpressed. They do not say, “Meh.” Brimming with awe and wonder, they cry, “Glory!” Giving glory and giving strength doesn’t mean that God’s people give him glory he doesn’t already have or strength he doesn’t already have — but that we see his glory, and his strength, and acknowledge him, and marvel at him, and express it with words of praise.

Now other voices get involved. His voice sends the storm and thunders in the storm. And then the voices of angels thunder in return by saying, “Glory!” Which leads then to a third and final part of the psalm.

3. Enjoy the Peace of His People

Verses 10–11 imply two groups of people on earth underneath the storm perceiving the power of God. For one group, the thunder and lightning and driving rains are a warning of the coming flood of judgment (verse 10). The only other time this word flood is used is for the great flood in Genesis that wiped out all humanity in judgment except for Noah and his family. Flood here is the threat of judgment. You don’t know when the downpour will stop. God’s power, his thunder, his storm, looms as judgment for his enemies. But verse 11 brings in the other group: his people, his friends on earth, who receive strength and enjoy peace. Same massive storm, same majestic power — but panic for his enemies, and peace for his people.

And this mention of strength and peace gets us from the storm to Scripture, and how we today receive the voice of the Lord and tremble at his word. Notice how his worshipers “give strength” to God in verse 1, and God “gives strength” to his people in verse 11. How would you “give strength” to someone? One way might be food, or you could give them some skill or a tool. But maybe the most common way to “give strength” to someone is what? Through words. Using your voice. You say words that go into the air, and into their ears, and down into their souls, and give them strength, give them courage. Encourage means to put courage into someone’s inner person through the instrument of your words.

Psalm 29, with its refrain about the voice of the Lord and his power and greatness, ends with God’s people strengthened. God’s own strength, through his voice, has been transferred to his people (verse 11). This can happen through a storm (“Look how big and strong my God is!”). But even better, and even more reliably, and even more clearly, and even more powerfully, it happens through encountering God’s voice in Scripture — in Psalm 29 itself, and in all of God’s revealed word for his people. So, let me end with a few ways to make this practical daily: how to hear and respond to his voice today.

Hear and Respond to Him

The goal of Psalm 29 and the aim of a daily encounter with God’s voice in the Bible are the same: Experience fearsome wonder at God, stand in awe at the Majestic One through the majesty of his words, enjoy a whole-souled thrill in him, be enthralled in worship in his presence.

When we’re talking about enjoying God in his speaking (word) and listening (prayer), we’re talking about communing with him. Communion with God includes both giving him our attention (hearing his word) and enjoying the gift of having his ear (talking to him in prayer).

Perhaps the way I could shoot you straightest about my own daily approach to the Bible and prayer is to share my three-part arc for a morning encounter with God himself, in Scripture, to hear his voice in his word, and respond to him with my voice in prayer.

1. Begin with Bible (Access His Voice)

Come to the Book to hear his voice. The Bible is not just a book, but God’s library of 66 books (and Psalms is 150 psalms!). Counsel:

• Plan: Choose a modest reading plan and read in multiple places (OT and NT, Gospels and Psalms/Proverbs).
  
• Pace: Find a pace worthy of God’s word: unhurried, even leisurely. Using a paper Bible can help your pace.
  
• Time: How long? Ideally, long enough to lose track of time. Allow space enough for “flow state,” where your attention isn’t on the clock or your to-do list (or anything else), but God has your undivided, unhurried, happy attention.
  

2. Move to Meditation (Sit with His Voice)

Meditation is the bridge between Bible reading and prayer — the overlap or middle space between beginning to hear God’s voice in his word and then responding in prayer.

This is where reading the Bible becomes hearing his voice, listening, connecting, communing with God, enjoying him, feeding on him, nourishing our souls in him. Counsel:

• After taking, say, ten minutes to read, then give ten minutes to feed on something from your reading.
  
• Observe the order of the text; let the passage itself and related passages give order to your meditation.
  
• Meditation seeks joy in God right now; it aims to warm the heart, stir the affections, and satisfy our souls today in the one we were made for.
  

Don’t just read and study the Bible but seek to experience it. Seek to feel the weight of what God is communicating with his voice. Apply the Bible to your heart. Condition your heart over time to feel what God means for you to feel through various passages and kinds of Scripture.

3. Polish with Prayer (Reply with Your Voice)

Having heard God first (in his word), pray in light of his word.

Once you have lingered in meditation on a verse or phrase or truth, turn it to prayer. Rather than pivoting to lists, pray through what you’ve meditated on. Turn Scripture’s concepts and promises and warnings into prayers for yourself, your family, your church, your friends, other believers, nonbelievers, your coworkers, your neighbors, the nations (concentric circles). Take God’s leading in meditation as his word to you that day and an invitation to prayer.

Prayer is relational response to God’s voice: Respond to God in light of what he is saying, and what you’ve meditated on in his word. So, again, my prayer this morning is that you might begin to hear the voice of God in a fresh and deeper way, and tremble with joy at God’s word in this book. But one missing piece remains.

The Voice of the Lord in His Son

The key link between the voice in the storm and the voice in Scripture is the voice in God’s Son. Let’s close with this, a Christian recasting of Psalm 29:

The Voice of the Lord was in the beginning, and the Voice was with God, and the Voice was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through his Voice, and without him was not anything made that was made.

The Voice of the Lord spoke to our fathers by the prophets, long ago, at many times and in many ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, his Voice incarnate.

The Voice of the Lord became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Voice of the Lord broke the pride of the lofty in Galilee, and he made the cedars in Jerusalem to scamper like calves, like young wild oxen.

The Voice of the Lord flashed forth at Calvary and cried out from the cross — and then went silent for three days. Then the Voice shook the earth again, and his people cried, “Glory! He is risen indeed!”

And the Voice of the Lord ascended to heaven and sat at the right hand of Majesty and poured out his Spirit, who inspired the voice of his apostles and gave us his Voice in Scripture.

Now the Voice of the Lord thunders each morning — he thunders each moment — if only we’d take up this living Word by the living Spirit and hear the living Voice that gives strength and imparts peace to his people.

And, brothers and sisters, the Voice of the Lord will one day return in glory, clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he will be called is the Word of God — that is, the Voice of the Lord. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, will follow him on white horses.

And so we will be with him, and see his face, and hear his voice. And until then, we cherish his word, in the storm and nature, and all the more in his Son and his Scripture.