The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.¹

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples.²

Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightning when his voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.³

Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.⁴ The LORD ruled as King at the time of the flood, and the LORD will rule as King forever.⁵ You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.⁶ Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.⁷

Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.⁸

Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.⁹ The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!¹⁰

My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.¹¹ Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name.¹²

Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins, O LORD. Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.¹³

In your wrath, hear our prayer, O Sovereign God. Have mercy and redeem your people out of all his troubles. Amen.

The Apostle Paul prayed that all believers will have the disposition of godly knowledge and wisdom in order to grasp the greatness of hope and the inheritance in Christ Jesus, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we might be to the praise of His glory:

“I always pray to the great and glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that he will give you the Spirit, who will let you know truths about God and help you understand them, so that you will know him better. I pray that God will open your minds to see his truth. Then you will know the hope that he has chosen us to have. You will know that the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious. And you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. It is the same as the mighty power he used to raise Christ from death and put him at his right side in the heavenly places. He put Christ over all rulers, authorities, powers, and kings. He gave him authority over everything that has power in this world or in the next world. God put everything under Christ’s power and made him head over everything for the church. The church is Christ’s body. It is filled with him. He makes everything complete in every way.”¹⁴

It is the grace of God and a blessing for all who believes and accepts the truth, and for all who repent and surrender to the true and Almighty God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, when we turn to Him and to Him alone. When we humble ourselves before God and submit to Him in truth and in spirit; our righteous and holy God will be merciful and is ready to forgive, and will deliver and heal us. Wherever we are in our life now, it is still not too late to turn to God whose love is everlasting, and who desires none of us to perish. Will you respond to God’s call and make the right choice to rise up to your destiny? As Jesus said this to His disciples,

“Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”¹⁵

Paul clarified and testified ,

“Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.”¹⁶

Repentance and faith are inextricably linked in Scripture. God looks beyond our words and religious activities to see if our conduct, our attitude and behaviour backs up what we say, for He judges our words by our actions. May we remember the Word that John the Baptist spoke to the Sadducees and Pharisees which also speaks to us: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”¹⁷

Although God does not usually punish us immediately for our sin, His eventual judgement is certain. We don’t know exactly when it will happen, but we know that no one will escape that final encounter with God, our Creator.

In His mercy and loving kindness, God holds back his judgement, giving people time to turn from their sin. However, let us not take God for granted and be cautioned that God’s patience is not approval of the wrong way we are living as Paul warns all who refuse to repent: “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed.”¹⁸

Indeed, Jesus also says to us,

“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.”¹⁹

Further, the writer of Hebrews also further warns us:

“See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken–that is, things that have been made–in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”²⁰

God will preserve His faithful remnants as He speaks loudly to all:

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD. “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us. “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the LORD who does this. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.”²¹

Our Almighty God reigns in His supremacy. The power of the lightning equals the terror of the thunder. The fear caused by these effects of the Divine power reminds us of the mighty power of God, of man’s weakness, and of the defenceless and desperate condition of the wicked in the day of judgement. But the effects of the Divine Word upon the souls of men, under the power of the Holy Spirit, are far greater than those of thunder storms in the nature world.

Paul pointed out in his Epistle to the Romans,

“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”²²

Let us remember God’s assurance to us,

“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages; but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith – to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ!”²³

When we come before Him in repentance, in faith and in love; our Redeemer of sinners, the Lord; will accept our defective services, pardon the sin which attaches to them, and approve of that measure of holiness which the Holy Spirit enables us to exercise. The strongest are made to tremble; the proudest are cast down; the secrets of the heart are brought to light, sinners are redeemed; the savage, sensual, and unclean become harmless, gentle, and pure.

As children of God who hears God’s voice, we are safe for He is our refuge and hope. We do not need to fear our Father’s voice, when he speaks in anger to His enemies. While those who tremble are without shelter, let those who abide in His appointed refuge bless Him for their security, looking forward to the day of judgement without dismay, safe as Noah in the ark.

To God, be all praise, honour and glory forever and ever!

Amen and Amen!

 

 

1 Psalms 29:3-5 2 Psalms 65:5-7 3 Job 37:2-5 4 Psalms 93:2 5 Psalms 29:10 6 Psalms 89:9 7 Psalms 69:1-2 8 Psalms 69:14-16

9 Psalm 69:17 10 Psalms 93:3-4 11 Psalm 25:15-17 12 Psalm 119:132 13 Psalm 25:17-21 14 Ephesians 1:18-23 15 Mark 11:22-25 16 First Timothy 1:8-19

17 Matthew 3:8 18 Romans 2:5 19 John 12:46-48 20 Hebrews 12:25-29 21 Amos 9:8-14 22 Romans 5:19 23 Romans 16:25-27