Thunderburst!

Norah Summers January 11, 2026 0 0

Playlists

Add to Favourites

Save for later

Listen to this daily worship

Psalm 29 (NIVUK)

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
    Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
    the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
    and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’

10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord is enthroned as King for ever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
    the Lord blesses his people with peace.

The voice of God the Creator.

From the beginning – literally from the early verses of Genesis – we are told that ‘God said . . .’ and it happened.

So many parts of the Scriptures have been set to music, and when I read I hear. In Haydn’s Creation the narrator’s ‘let there be light’ is followed by a thunderburst from the full chorus – ‘and there was LIGHT!

Sound and light – thunderburst and lightning flash – this is not the pastoral idyll of the pastures green and the quiet waters, this is God in full power and majesty.

The waters roar, the mountains shake, the trees fall.

These events inspire awe, fear, respect.

And yet the voice from Heaven can also be heard to say ‘This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased’.

The roaring cataracts and restless rapids are spectacular demonstrations of the power of water.

Yet so are the drops on the head of an infant — who may of course react with a roar of outrage worthy of Niagara Falls.

I have no recollection of my baptism as a baby, but I know it was an important moment for the rest of my life.

A few years ago a man was baptised in our church. He had come from Iran where he was in danger because of his faith and had been welcomed into our congregation. It was a very moving occasion and there were many tears of joy to add to the water of baptism.

It is not only in the crashing waves and roaring rivers that we hear the voice of God.

The water of life, the living water, may indeed come from unexpected places, deep wells and tiny springs, to renew and refresh us, to give us new hope.

What a gift!

Prayer:
 

God of might and power, we praise you.

God of the thunder and the still small voice, we praise you.

God of new life and hope, we praise you.

Give us, we pray, the water of life to renew and refresh us.