Note: The graphics were generated using AI.

The Philadelphia region experienced a slow-moving nor’easter this past weekend, and Lower Bucks County (where I live) was under a wind advisory with strong north winds and soaking rain. It was the kind of weather that gets your attention—wind blowing, the rain coming down, and everything outside swirling around. Somehow the Phillies still got their games in, but I noticed the wind blowing the players’ jerseys, which was unusual.

So when I opened Psalm 29, it felt especially timely, because it is a storm psalm. David described a powerful storm moving across the land. There was thunder, broken trees, and the wilderness shook. Everything seemed to be moving, but David wasn’t primarily fascinated by the storm. He was fascinated by the God who ruled over it.  Again and again, one phrase appears: “The voice of the LORD…” “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.”(Psalm 29:4)

As I listened to the nor’easter outside this weekend, I thought about how loud storms can be. But then I realized that some of the loudest storms I’ve experienced haven’t happened outside my window. They’ve happened inside my life. Fear, bad news, uncertainty, and unanswered prayer can be loud. One difficult circumstance can make so much noise in my mind that it becomes difficult to hear anything else. And Psalm 29 reminds me: “The storm is loud. But God is louder.”

David never minimized the storm’s power. Instead, he magnified God’s power. Then comes an image that stands out as one of my favorites in the entire psalm: “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.” (Psalm 29:10) I need that reminder. When something feels like it is swirling out of control in my life, God is not swirling with it. He is seated, reigning over the flood, and He is still King.

The storms in my life may be over my head, but they are still under His feet. And after all the thunder, wind, shaking, and crashing, Psalm 29 ends beautifully: “May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!”(Psalm 29:11) Peace! What a surprising ending to a psalm filled with a storm.

And that was my takeaway while praying Psalm 29 today. Peace doesn’t necessarily mean there is no storm. Peace means I know Who is King in the middle of it. The nor’easter eventually moves on. The winds die down. The rain stops. The storms in my life will come and go too. But the throne doesn’t move. The storm is loud, but God is louder. The storm may shake things around me, but it can never shake the One who sits above it.