Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Chapter 2: Psalms 18–38

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Psalm 29 with John Calvin – The Existence of God The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders (v. 3). David now rehearses the wonders of nature. It is fitting to celebrate the power of God as well as his goodness in his works. Since there is nothing in the ordinary course of nature, throughout heaven and earth, which does not invite us to the contemplation of God, he might have mentioned, as in Psalm 19:1, the sun and the stars or the earth with its riches; but he selects only those works of God which prove not only that the world was at first created by him, and is governed by his power, but which also awaken the sleepy, and drag them to adore him humbly in spite of themselves. Experience, too, tells us that those who are most daring in their contempt of God are most afraid of thunder, storms, and such violent commotions. With great wisdom, therefore, does the prophet invite our attention to these instances which strike the rude and clueless with some sense of the existence of a God, and rouse them to action, however sluggish and inattentive they are. He does not say: the sun rises from day to day, and sheds abroad its life-giving beams, nor that the rain gently descends to fertilize the earth with its moisture. Instead, he speaks of thunder, violent storms, and things that strike human hearts with dread by their violence. God, it is true, speaks in all his creatures, but here the prophet mentions those sounds which rouse us from our drowsiness, or rather our numbness, by the loudness of their noise. We have said, that this language is chiefly directed to those who with stubborn recklessness, cast away from them all thought of God. The very examples he uses sufficiently declare that David’s intention was to subdue by fear the stubbornness