Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. Psalm 29:1,4,7
Reflection: Sometime in June (2015) while I was hiking in Virginia, astronomers discovered an immensely powerful stellar explosion. It was announced in the news this month (NPR: All Things Considered, 1-14-16). The inferno is about 200 times more powerful than a typical exploding star, or supernova, and 570 billion times brighter than our sun. I can’t fathom this fact. Even though it’s the brightest supernova on record, it can’t be seen with the naked eye from Earth, since it is 3.8 billion light-years away…which means it happened a very long time ago. I can’t fathom that either. Today’s psalm stuns me for this reason: the voice who created this celestial event is the same voice that also calls us by name, calls us beloved, invites us to trust. I will never, ever fathom the depths of this truth either!
Suggestions:
1. Take this verse with you and ponder its meaning for you throughout the day. What do you notice? What do you wonder? What amazes you about God’s voice?
2. Or read all of Psalm 29 to discover how this verse fits into the psalm or to discover a different verse.
3. Or comment with a photo of your own that illustrates this verse’s meaning for you.
Tomorrow’s verse is from Psalm 30:11-12
Starting January 1, 2016, for 150 days I am posting a daily psalm verse with a photo that is a visual meditation on the text for me. Each day a verse from the next psalm is chosen until all 150 psalms have been featured. To participate you may subscribe to my blog at https://elainedent.net or “friend” me on Facebook and watch for the daily links to blog posts. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and most of the photos are from a cell phone or small camera while hiking the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
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