The Splendour of his Holiness

Psalm 29

‘Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.’ ~ Psalm 29:2

If God is the most glorious person to ever exist and better than any good thing – more good, loving and powerfully able to bless than any worldly comfort, or any sum of riches or power – then it is wrong to attribute glory to anyone or anything else. It is sad that the evil in our world makes it hard for others to seek and find God’s love, though he has displayed his presence to all in his works of creation, in the moral awareness of our human unworthiness to be gods ourselves, and in Christ (among all the other ways God is revealed).

God’s holiness (קֹדֶשׁ) includes the idea of being morally perfect, but that is not, some argue, the central idea. The central idea is that God is completely unique, different, separate, and ‘other’ to all else that exists. He doesn’t just ask to be worshipped but deserves to be worshipped, and this worship fulfils his creation and creatures in the way he intended in his perfect love. By his sacrificial and painful cross, Jesus returns us to our ability to worship God if we receive its benefits by faith in him.

Psalm 29 has an emphasis on God's voice having the power to create and destroy. This echoes his power seen in Genesis where he created the world by speaking it into existence. God's words bring life and change in irresistible ways.

Whether intentional or not by the psalmist, the descriptions of God’s power over creation also parallel the humility we should have before God’s holiness. In this psalm, the voice of God causes forests to quake and deserts to shake. All this makes us feel small and powerless, which must be intended for us to have a right view of ourselves. Yet if humans are small creatures compared to the vastness of stars and landscapes and the power of God who can command their forces, how much smaller are we in spiritual worlds that intersect our lives? We are like ants in the cosmic and heavenly order, less powerful even than spiritual beings beneath God who defy him, yet we are invited to worship the one who is holy, and such holiness has a power in heavenly spaces we do not yet fully comprehend. He sent his Word become flesh, Jesus Christ, to secure hope for us in places unseen.

This post was written in advance and automatically published.