Psalm 29:4-9

The voice of the LORD is powerful;
   the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
   the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
   and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
⁸The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
   the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth
   and strips the forests bare,
   and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

Christians sometimes talk about hearing the voice of the Lord. In reading this this morning, I was just really challenged at how I perceive God and how I think about hearing from Him. The truth is that through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for our sin, we are now able to come boldly before God (Eph. 3:12). God doesn’t destroy us with His voice (or other agents of His strength), but we still serve the same God. Holy awe at His Being is the only honest response to understanding who He really is.

Just a thought.

Psalm 1:1-2
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

I think I have heard these verses many times, agreed with them theoretically, and quickly forgotten them. Reading through them now, I want to actually learn from them.

I have two quick thoughts after reading this. The first is more about the verse, the second about our hearts.

1.) Something I’ve really been struck with over the past few weeks is the deep need that we, as children of God, have for His word. Psalm 19:7-14 talks of how good it is and therefore how much we have to benefit from it. In Matthew 4:4 Jesus speaks of how man shouldn’t live only on physical food, but also on the spiritual food that is the word of God. And here in Psalm 1, it speaks of the blessings that are to be gained by delighting in and meditating on the law of God. I want to be faithful to give God’s word the place in my life that it deserves.

2.) For a few weeks about a week ago, I have just had a really rough time reading God’s word. I would read it, but it just seemed so stale and dead to me. This has been really frustrating to me, because I usually love God’s word and even crave it when I am not reading it. I’ve been praying that God would help me figure out what’s wrong. I am not completely sure, but in thinking a lot about stuff, I am pretty convinced that it has been my own pride.

I think it’s easy to read the word of God having a get it done mentality and not really being open to what He has to say. 1 Corinthians 2 says that spiritual truth of God is only communicated to us through the Spirit of God. If we’re living and acting in pride, I think it really blocks us from hearing from God’s Spirit and it keeps us from understanding His word. Not that He’s silent or distant, but that in our hearts we are opposed to Him.

We ought to come before God in humility so that when He wants to speak, we’ll be willing to hear and obey.