Hurricanes, Tsunamis, and Worship

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is unbelievable. There is a wide deal of speculation that this may be the worst disaster ever to hit the United States both in terms of human lives and also in terms of property damage. Roughly 20,000 people are missing, and the death toll is already estimated to be in the thousands.

Certainly, in terms of human lives lost, the tsunami that hit southeast Asia last December was a much larger tragedy even than Katrina.

However, I was astounded this morning as I had my Bible Time to read Psalm 29. I was so profoundly impacted by the Psalm, that I’m just going to quote the whole thing here…

1 Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor 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 skip 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 forever.

11 The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.

I have read this passage before, but I have never fully understood it until today. The passage begins with a call to all the mighty ones to give God the glory that he deserves and to worship him with the acknowledgement that his holiness is splendid!

Then, the next major section of the Psalm (vv. 3-9) describe how God’s voice is like thunder that crashes and rolls and breaks trees and makes mountains jump and even shakes the land.

Up until that point, I simply thought that the Psalm was a metaphor for how powerful God is and how much his name is worthy of worship. However, when I got to the end of the Psalm, that all changed!

Verse 10 makes a remarkable shift. It says, “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood.”

I thought that David was writing about God’s voice being like thunder, but if that is the case, then where does the “flood” concept come in? Suddenly it hit me. David must have just experienced a dramatic and powerful thunderstorm before writing this Psalm. It was more than a metaphor, it was something he had experienced. He saw a storm and a flood and is using them to make a point.

I was really shocked at the timing of this verse in my life. Just last night, I allowed myself the time to watch a news broadcast about Katrina and the aftermath of the hurricane and how most of New Orleans is under 10 feet of water! Then, this morning I read how God is “enthroned over the flood.” What an amazing thing to think!

Now, at this time, many people are asking that if God is really in charge of the world and he really is King forever as the Psalm says, then why did he allow such a tragedy to happen. I’ve explained elsewhere that even though that question is so personally powerful and even though that question has been thoroughly explored by myself and others more intelligent than I, it still is an inappropriate question. By that I mean that the question misses the point. The question focuses on the tragedy and not to possibility.

David had just encountered a tragedy, and he uses it to teach three important lessons:

1. God is the power, the force, and the “voice” behind the thunderstorm, and the storm is just a small illustration of his incredible power (vv. 3-10).
2. God’s name is to be worshiped and honored as we acknowledge his incredible power (vv. 1-2).
3. Most importantly of all, “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”

These are the lessons to learn from the storm: The God who reigns supreme and has power greater than Hurricane Katrina, is the God we worship and the one who gives us strength. Knowing about God’s strength, knowing that God is our God, and knowing that he will give us his strength… That brings peace.

• Cost of the Tsunami to fisheries in Sri Lanka: > $520 Million
• US Government aid promised to victims of Hurricane Katrina: > $10 Billion
• Knowing that the Almighty will give us strength: Priceless