Give to the LORD, you heavenly beings, give to the LORD glory and might;
Give to the LORD the glory due God's name. Bow down before the LORD'S holy splendor!
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over the mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is power; the voice of the LORD is splendor.
The voice of the LORD cracks the cedars; the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon,
Makes Lebanon leap like a calf, and Sirion like a young bull.
The voice of the LORD strikes with fiery flame;
the voice of the LORD rocks the desert; the LORD rocks the desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. All in his palace say, "Glory!"
The LORD sits enthroned above the flood! The LORD reigns as king forever!
May the LORD give might to his people; may the LORD bless his people with peace!
In this psalm, we are given a lot of imagery to illustrate God's power: crashing thunder, a voice that makes mountains leap, winds tearing bark from trees (can you imagine California Redwoods being devastated by any kind of wind?). All of these images represent the overwhelming powerfulness of our God.
We look at these and we might begin to wonder: Do we worship the God of Mars? Can our God defeat any and all comers with one hand tied behind? Shouldn't all the non-Christian peoples of the world tremble before our might, which comes from our all-powerful God who can defeat anyone in war?
Before we get too self-confident in that way, we probably should recall that we worship a God who is revealed through Jesus Christ...a God who surrendered to us to let us do as we will... and we killed this God. God offered us a throat and we cut it! God knew this would be the result however... yet that was no impediment. In fact, that was the very reason God did it. We now know that at the very depths of God, in the very inner being of God, dwells self-surrender... love in the deepest sense.
These images of power represented by overwhelming destruction actually represent the overwhelming power of this love. Nothing can withstand the terrible storm that this love brings. Love conquers in the end because love surrenders to the beloved to let the beloved have it's way.
We beloved are left, naked and shorn of all defenses, in the wake of this terrible storm. Let us welcome the shattered trees and shallow ponds of our forest of illusion and fall into the embrace of the thundering love of our God.
