Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Psalms
Book: Psalms
Chapter: 29
Overview:
Exhortation to give
Glory to
God.
- The mighty and honourable of the
Earth are especially bound to
honour and
Worship him; but, alas, few attempt to
Worship him in
the beauty of
Holiness. When we come before him as the
Redeemer
of sinners, in
Repentance,
Faith, and
Love, he will accept our
defective services,
Pardon the
Sin that cleaves to them, and
approve of that
Measure of
Holiness which the Holy
Spirit
enables us to
Exercise. We have here the nature of religious
Worship; it is giving to the
Lord the
Glory due to his name. We
must be holy in all our religious services, devoted to
God, and
to his will and
Glory. There is a beauty in
Holiness, and that
puts beauty upon all
Acts of
Worship. The psalmist here sets
forth
God's dominion in the kingdom of nature. In the
Thunder,
and
Lightning, and storm, we may see and hear his
Glory. Let our
hearts be thereby filled with great, and high, and honourable
thoughts of
God, in the holy adoring of whom, the power of
Godliness So much consists. O
Lord our
God, thou art very great!
The power of the
Lightning equals the terror of the
Thunder. The
fear caused
By these effects of the Divine power, should remind
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
Judgment. 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. Thereby the
stoutest are made to tremble, the proudest are cast down, the
secrets of the
Heart are brought to
Light, sinners are
converted, the savage, sensual, and unclean, become harmless,
gentle, and pure. If we have heard
God's voice, and have fled
for
Refuge to the
Hope set before us, let us remember that
children need not fear their
Father's voice, when he speaks in
Anger to his enemies. While those tremble who are without
shelter, let those who abide in his appointed
Refuge Bless him
for their security, looking forward to the
Day of
Judgment
without dismay, safe as
Noah in the
Ark.