"The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters." (Psalm 29:3)

In the remarkable 29th Psalm, David evidently had been given a retrospective vision of a mighty act of God that had taken place thousands of years earlier. As the vision neared its conclusion, he wrote: "The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever" (Psalm 29:10).

The Flood which David saw in his vision was no ordinary flood. The Hebrew word he used to describe it was mabbul, a word never used in the Bible since the days of Noah, and used then exclusively to describe the terrible judgment of the global deluge that had destroyed the antediluvian world and all its wicked rebels against the Lord, sparing only those in Noah's Ark.

It had been used some 12 times in Genesis 6-11 to refer to that awful judgment, and now was used one more time in Psalm 29, presumably to assure David that God was still in control amidst all circumstances, just as He had been back in that unspeakable period when "the wickedness of man was great in the earth" and "the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:5, 11).

At that time the "voice of the LORD" had sounded forth in mighty thunders, possibly the first time men had ever heard thunder, for then at least, as far as the record goes, "the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth" (Genesis 2:5)—until He said "I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:4).

"Many waters," indeed! "The waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days" (Genesis 7:24). All the mountains of the world were under these mighty waters for five long months, while the Lord remained seated on His throne. And even today, "the Lord will bless his people with peace" (Psalm 29:11). HMM