The Voice of the Lord

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

- from Psalm 29

What does the voice of the Lord sound like to you? Does God's voice thunder? Is his voice loud and clear? Or does his voice sound muffled? Do you wonder if what you heard was him speaking or whether it was just some other background noise?

Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord clearly in the garden. They heard his voice until they started to listen to the whispers of the serpent. Then they began to question the voice that used to be so familiar and unmistakable. The voice of the Lord grew dim, muffled, frightening, unintelligible.

As years passed Adam and Eve's children and grandchildren, if they perceived the voice of the Lord at all, failed to hear God's voice loudly and clearly.

Occasionally there would be one, a prophet, who would hear the voice of the Lord like a rumbling in the distance, or a whispered voice while waking from sleep. And they shared what they could hear. But the voice of God was garbled to most of the people.

The Father longed for his children to hear his voice loud and clear, to know his heart of love. So he  sent Jesus, the Word made flesh, to speak again with a voice that could be heard.

On the cross, as Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "It is finished", the veil was torn in two. The voice of the Lord thundered. The voice of the Lord shook the tombs open.

May the voice of the Lord still all other voices. May the voice of the Lord be loud and clear in our ears. May we too cry, "Glory!"