This is my first posting on my thoughts from the woman's retreat (read my previous post).
After the teaching session on Friday night, we had about 40 minutes for guided individual time. The retreat is located at a beautiful retreat center in Jarabacoa, so I found a place outside, in the dark, to sit, took out my flashlight, held Jeremiah, and started reading. Jeremiah was asleep, so I had about 20 minutes of very peaceful time looking at Psalm 29 (before it started raining and I had to go inside and change Jeremiah's diaper). Our directions were to read over it noting the human actions and God's actions, thinking about what it says about God, and then thinking about how we might react.
This beautiful psalm describes the awesome power and majesty of God.
"The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters." (vs. 3)
It also tells us our proper response,
"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness" (vs. 2)
As I was reading, verse 9 jumped out at me:
"The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory."
After reading vs. 9, I had a mental image of an uncountable group of people bowing before God's throne, hearts filled with awe and wonder, unable to say anything but "glory!" What a beautiful picture! I long for such passion; to see the awesome holiness of God as it really is. I've had fleeting glimpses of it- especially through His creation. But I long for the day when I will finally see God's glory unveiled!
The last verse says,
"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace."
After such a powerful psalm of God's power, I love how it ends with peace. In spite all of that terrifying wonderful power, God is our peace. Or maybe because of that power. After all, doesn't it bring peace to know that the same powerful God who's voice breaks the cedars longs for intimacy with us, in spite of our brokenness?
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