Divine Fingerprints

Our regular series for the month of August is about how to read the Bible. I thought today would be a great opportunity since we are outdoors to augment that series with an additional thought on God’s word for us. The Belgic Confession speaks about the two ways in which God reveals himself. The Bible is one of those ways; and we have been digging into that over the past few weeks of sermons. But the Belgic Confession talks about another “book” in addition to the Bible. The word “book” should be used in quotation marks as the Belgic Confession uses that term symbolically, and not literally in this case.

Article two of the Belgic Confession says this:

Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God

We know God by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: God’s eternal power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are enough to convict humans and to leave them without excuse.

Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for God’s glory and for our salvation.

It is that first section of confession that I want us to focus our attention today. The creation itself reveals God for us to see. And as the confession notes, the Bible itself gives testimony to this. There is mention of Romans 1. However, I want us to take a look at the psalms for an example of this. This is a psalm of David which I can only imagine he wrote in the midst of beholding an incredible thunderstorm rolling over the mountains surrounding the land of southern Israel where David grew up and lived.

Psalm 29 (NIV)

Psalm 29 NIV

A psalm of David. 1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, 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 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 forever. 11 The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.

Psalm 29 brings mental picture of a powerful thunderstorm

The mental picture in this psalm seem obvious enough. David hears in the mighty demonstration of a thunderstorm a reminder of the mighty voice of the Lord. It is what theologians call a theophany, something that displays or reveal God in some way. It is a visible manifestation of God at work. David sees it in the lightning and hears it in the thunder.

Brief thunderstorms are a daily occurrence during the summer in the Rocky Mountains. My family would experience it every day during the summer for the years that we lived in Denver. As the cool air of the morning gives way to the heat of the middle of the day, that warm air would run into the high peak of the mountains and collide with the cooler air of higher altitude and result in a brief thunderstorm. In Denver you can just count on experiencing a 20 minute thunderstorm sometime between noon and 3pm every day during the summer.

The land in southern Israel where David lived was similar. It is a dry desert climate with mountains that run along the western side of the Dead Sea and Jordan river between the cities of Jerusalem and Jericho. David could very well have experienced seeing distant thunderstorms on the horizon regularly in his early days of tending sheep growing up in Bethlehem. I suppose he might be making reference in this psalm to a very particular storm he experienced, but it seems more likely that he is talking about a general experience that occurred regularly. And what makes the psalm such a relatable poem and prayer for the people of Israel is that it is a shared experience everyone else in Israel would know about as well.

theophany — a manifestation which reveals God

We have those experiences here in West Michigan too. It doesn’t necessarily show up as daily thunderstorms. Just this week someone was talking with me about the coming fall season and noting what a wonderful time of year that is here in Michigan when all the trees turn different colors and we see this grand display of autumn. It may not be a fireworks display of lightning, but it is still definitely a kind of fireworks display of color and beauty we see every year. We certainly have our own examples of theophany here in Michigan. We see too that the creation itself displays a revelation of God.

Look with me at the way this Psalm sets that up in these words of David. The Psalm is divided into three parts. There is an introduction of two verses, a middle section from verses 3-9, and a conclusion of two verses at the end.

vs 1-2 — introduction | yahab “ascribe” = give, bring

The introduction is a call to worship. You see it in the repeated use of the word ‘ascribe.’ It is the Hebrew word yahab and it simply means give or bring. Other repeated words include the divine name of God, Yahweh, which appears all throughout this psalm in almost every single verse. And twice in the introduction the instruction is to ascribe (give or bring) glory. We will say more about glory a bit later.

vs 3-9 — theophany | the experience of a thunderstorm

From the introduction the psalm moves into a large middle section which just focuses on the theophany of the thunderstorm. It is verse after verse of poetic description of how God is evident in this display of nature itself in the creation. Every single verse of this middle section speaks of how the voice of the Lord shows up in the thunder and lightning and how the creation reacts upon receiving it. Every verse continues to talk directly about God by the continued repetition of the divine name Yahweh. All, that is, until the very last phrase of verse 9.

Psalm 29:9 (NIV)

Psalm 29:9 NIV

9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

vs 9b — the response of the people

bene elim “heavenly beings” = children of God

Here we return attention again to the introduction. The call to worship we see in verses 1-2 is addressed to an interesting audience. David is not at this point addressing the people. It is addressed in verse 1 to the heavenly beings (as our English translation puts it). The older NIV Bible translates it as “mighty ones.” It is the Hebrew phrase bene elim which would literally translate into English as “children of God.” The context creates a nuance which may be referencing the angels, which is why most English translations prefer to use the term heavenly beings. The point is this: even the heavenly beings are beneath the glory of God; even the angels are part of the created order and not above it. David is declaring in the call to worship that ALL creation is called upon to give glory to the Lord.

kavod “glory” = heavy, weighty

Let’s bring it back down to verse 9. Here is where David brings all of us—the people—into the picture. The people who are gathered in the temple join together with all the rest of creation in giving glory to the Lord. It is the response of the people back to God upon hearing, seeing, and recognizing the revelation of God which shows up in such spectacular manifestations such as a thunderstorm.

The Hebrew word for glory is kavod. It literally means heavy or weighty. The implication is something so large or striking or momentous that it commands your attention; you cannot ignore it or brush it aside or push it out of the way. David describes it in terms of the thunderstorm. You can imagine it. A flash of lightning so bright you don’t have to ask, “did you just see that?” The answer is obvious; of course everyone saw it. You cannot help but see it. And the kind of thunder that isn’t a distant rumble, it is one of those thunderclaps that startles you and makes you jump a bit. It is more than just the kind of lightning and thunder you see and hear; it is that kind of thunder you physically feel. You know, the kind of thunder that makes the whole house rattle just a little bit. That’s kavod. You cannot miss it, you cannot ignore it, it absolutely demands a response of some kind. In the case of a close lightning flash and loud peel of thunder it produces a startled reaction that is automatic.

doctrine & psalm confirm - the creator is revealed in the creation

distinction between worshipping creator or worshipping created things

David is saying that the revelation of God should be like that. It is glorious. It comes before us in such a way that we cannot help but react and respond in worship. David makes the case here in Psalm 29 that the creation itself brings this about. Article two of the Belgic Confession agrees, “since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God.” The incredibly important distinction made here in our doctrines and in the psalms is the difference between the creator and the creation. God is evident in the creation, but the creation is not God. That is the reference being made in the Belgic Confession to Romans 1.

Romans 1:20–21 (NIV)

Romans 1:20–21 NIV

20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:25 NIV

25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

The created world is meant to point us to our God, not to be our God. And what about our God is the creation meant to point us towards? This is where David concludes his psalm in the last two verses.

Psalm 29:10–11 (NIV)

Psalm 29:10–11 NIV

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.

vs 10-11 — conclusion | the Lord is King, gives strength, blesses with peace

oze “strength” = refuge, protection

The creation reminds us that the Lord himself is king. The creation reminds us that the Lords gives strength to his people. The Hebrew word for strength is oze which literally means refuge or protection. It is not David’s intention to say that the Lord gives power to his people, rather David is saying that the Lord gives protection to his people—that’s what he means by strength in verse 11. And to conclude the psalm David says that the Lord blesses his people with peace. I talk often about that Hebrew word for peace, shalom. It is the blessing of God to provide thriving and flourishing and wellbeing to his creation within his creation.

shalom “peace” = thriving, flourishing, wellbeing

The bible tells us all of this. And today we take a moment and remind ourselves that the creation itself points us in this direction as well. As you have opportunity in the coming days and week to find a few moments to enjoy outdoors. Let the incredible beauty of God’s creation reveal the creator who made it and provides all that we need within it. And may we, like all the rest of creation, respond by giving glory to God.