Psalm 29 — 30
in these eleven verses, He is called "Lord," and that means He is Lord of heaven and earth, Lord of all.
Sin is ugly, no matter what we may call it, but true holiness is beautiful and brings glory to God.
The Lord is King today and will sit as King forever! He can give strength to His people and see them through the storms of life. After the thunder, lightning, wind, and rain comes the calm after the storm when "the Lord blesses his people with peace" (v. 11 niv; and see 107:29; 148:8.) Noah saw the rainbow of the covenant after the storm (Gen. 9:8–17), the apostle John saw it before the storm (Rev. 4:3), and Ezekiel saw the rainbow in the midst of the storm (Ezek. 1:26–28). We always have God's promise to encourage us.
God's Glory in the Earthly Tempest (vv. 3–9) This is an inspired and dramatic description of a thunderstorm that started somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea (v. 3) and moved eastward to the Lebanon mountain range in the northern part of the land of Israel (v. 5). The storm continued moving eastward overland to Mount Hermon (v. 6; Sirion, Deut. 3:8–9), where it turned south and traveled about two hundred miles down to Kadesh in the wilderness (v. 8), and there it dispersed. It was accompanied by loud thunder ("the voice of the Lord" see 18:13–14; Job 37:1–5; 40:9) and also by lightning (v. 7). Seven times you find the phrase "the voice of the Lord" (see Rev. 10:3–4), and it was "the God of glory" who was thundering and revealing His majesty. He is also "the King of glory" (24:7).
PSALM 30
The psalm opens and closes on a note of thanksgiving (vv. 1, 12; and see 4, 11).
The emphasis is on praise to the Lord for rescuing David from a dangerous and difficult situation that included sickness (v. 2), being near death (vv. 3, 9), God's anger (v. 5), weeping (vv. 5, 11), and emotional turmoil (v. 7). But the trial also involved the nation, for David addressed them in verses 4–5. Apparently this was a national crisis that David had helped to precipitate because he disobeyed the will of God. It came at a time when he was enjoying ease and security and was proud of himself and his kingdom (vv. 6–7). According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm for "the dedication of the house." The word house can be translated "palace," referring to David's house, or "temple," referring to the Lord's house. If it's the first, then perhaps 2 Samuel 5 describes the historical setting, when David captured Mount Zion and made Jerusalem his capital city. (Note "my mountain" in Ps. 30:7.) All Israel had crowned David king, he had won great victories over the Philistines, and he had built had himself a palace. He knew that his kingdom was established and exalted by the Lord (5:12). This context has all the ingredients necessary to make David proud and thus invite the chastening of the Lord.
The Lebanon range was about ten thousand feet above sea level, and the Canaanites believed it was the home of their gods. It was famous for its cedar forests (72:16; 1 Kings 4:33), but the thunder of God broke even those stalwart trees (v. 5). In fact, the thunder made the trees and the mountains skip like calves (v. 6; see 114:1ff.)! In Scripture, the cedar tree is sometimes a symbol of a nation or a kingdom, including David's dynasty (Ezek. 17:1–3), Assyria (Ezek. 31:3), and even Israel (Num. 24:6). The prophet Isaiah saw the fall of the proud cedars as a picture of the defeat of the nations in the day of the Lord (Isa. 2:10–17). Note that it was the thunder—the voice of God—that broke the trees, and not the wind or the lightning. The voice of God is powerful and can shake the wilderness like an earthquake (v. 8). So frightened were the animals that the hinds went into premature labor and delivered their calves. Imagine being born in a thunderstorm!
During this demonstration of God's great power, the angels were watching with amazement and shouting, "Glory!" (v. 9). The angels learned about God's grace, wisdom, and power by watching the Son of God when He served on earth (1 Tim. 3:16). They also learned during the week of creation (Job 38:7), and they are learning today as they behold the church on earth (Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12).
However, if "house" refers to the temple of the Lord, then we must look to 1 Chronicles 21:1—22:1 and 2 Samuel 24 for the context. This is the record of the national plague David caused when he arrogantly numbered the people and 70,000 people died. This caused David great distress (2 Sam. 24:10, 14), and he put on sackcloth and begged God for mercy for the people (1 Chron. 21:16; see Ps. 30:11). David purchased a plot of ground from Ornan and dedicated it to be the site for the temple (1 Chron. 22:1), and he began to use the plot as his own personal place of worship. This second explanation seems to cover the facts better. In either case, the message of the psalm is clear: the Lord forgave David and gave him the blessing of a new beginning. "The victorious Christian life," wrote the noted Scottish preacher George Morrison, "is a series of new beginnings." That definition beautifully fits this psalm.
God's Glory on the Heavenly Throne (vv. 10–11) Seeing the rain and the mounting streams of water, hearing the thunder and watching the lightning, David began to meditate on the flood that occurred in the days of Noah (Gen. 6—9). "The Lord sat as King at the flood" (v. 10 nasb); He was in charge, not Baal. He sent the rain, He opened the fountains of the deep, He stopped the rain, He waited for the water to drain off and the land to dry, and then He brought Noah and his family out of the ark. As he watched the storm move down to Kadesh, David rejoiced that the God who created the universe was also in control of the forces of nature, and there was nothing to fear. Eighteen times