Psalm 29 is one of those short psalms that thrills with an intense, almost electric poetic charge. It is a celebration of ‘the voice of the Lord’ singing and ringing through nature and yet resounding and commanding from above and beyond nature:
It is the Lord that commandeth the waters: it is the glorious God that maketh the thunder.
It is the Lord that ruleth the sea; the voice of the Lord is mighty in operation: the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedar-trees: yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Libanus.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf: Libanus also, and Sirion, like a young unicorn.
The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire; the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness: yea, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Cades.
A Christian praying and responding to this psalm does so knowing that the Lord whose voice is celebrated in this psalm is Christ, whose voice is also within us as well as beyond us, who speaks to us in the voices of the poor and in his own Passion and compassion.
As usual you can hear me read the poem by pressing the ‘play’ button if it appears, or else by clicking on the title. For the other poems in my psalm series type the word ‘psalm’ into the search box on the right.
Call us oh Christ, and open up the gate
Call us to worship, with your mighty voice:
The voice that sings through rivers in full spate
The voice in which the forests all rejoice
The voice that rolls through thunderclouds, and calls
The deep seas and steep waves, the quiet voice
That stirs our sleeping conscience and recalls
Us to the love we had abandoned, leads
Us through the parting mists of doubt, or falls
Upon us like a revelation, pleads
With us upon the poor’s behalf, blazes
In glory from each burning bush, and bleeds
Out from compassion’s wounds, raises
Our spirits till we dance for joy
And gives us too, a voice to sing his praises.
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Malcolm Guite 