The Voice of the Lord

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Scripture

Psa. 29:3 ¶     The voice of the LORD is upon the waters;
    The God of glory thunders,
    The LORD is over many waters.
Psa. 29:4     The voice of the LORD is powerful,
    The voice of the LORD is majestic.
Psa. 29:11     1The LORD will give strength to His people;
    2The LORD will bless His people with peace.
Mark 4:37 And there *arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.
Mark 4:38 And He Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *awoke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Mark 4:39 And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and 1it became perfectly calm.
Mark 4:40 And He said to them, “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?”

Observation

The Psalmist was already aware of the power in the voice of the Lord.  He had experienced the peace which came when God spoke in the midst of the storms of life.  It was through the voice of the Lord that God's very glory was revealed, his presence made known to his followers.  His voice would bring strength and peace.  This was God's promise.

How quickly the promises are forgotten and when the disciples found themselves in a real storm in the middle of the sea they were terrified.  Yes, they had Jesus with them and yet they were scared to death.  How could Jesus be so calm -- filled with strength and peace, while water began to fill the boat?  Because he was the son of God!  They saw Jesus' calm as indifference instead of recognizing the very nature of God in him. 

Jesus' voice simply reached out in glory and spoke to the water saying, "Hush, be still."  That is when peace came to everything around him.  But in the quiet and stillness he looked at his disciples who were now stunned and asked them why they were so timid.  Did they not believe the promises of old that God could still the waters?  Did they really have no faith? 

Application

God has promised that his voice can bring us peace in the midst of the storm.  However, I'm wondering whether our lack of faith is allowing the storm to drown out the voice of God in our lives.  It was the voice of God which stilled the waters and it is the voice of God speaking into our lives on a daily basis which can calm our storms.  However, if we cannot hear him, we will not experience his peace.  Therefore, maybe we shouldn't be asking where God is, but rather, where is our faith?  What must we do to increase our faith and bet in such an intimate relationship with God that we do hear and recognize his voice? 

The disciples were in close physical contact with Jesus, and yet they didn't have faith.  We go to church on a regular basis -- in close physical contact with worship of Christ -- and yet, do we believe?  Faith comes from intimacy in our daily walk with him.  There is nothing that can substitute for the deeper, transforming walk to which we are all called. 

Stop, read the word, take time to pray, and learn to listen for the voice of God every single day. 

Prayer

Lord, may I hear your voice and leading this day.  Amen.

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