That One Word, Before the Voice of the Lord
Psalms 29:1-11
The testimony of Dr. Seung-bok Lee, Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, offers us profound inspiration and challenge. He immigrated to the United States with his parents as a child and became a representative gymnast for the U.S.
He was at a level where he could have aimed for a gold medal at the Olympics, but during practice, his spine was damaged, leaving him in a vegetative state where he could barely move his fingers. The despair he felt at that time was beyond words.
At that moment, a missionary spoke to him. “It is all God’s will that you have become like this, and there is clearly a divine purpose to accomplish great things through this incident.” It was not an easy thing for the person in question to accept.
While he would not have been able to accept such words at any other time, he felt that if he did not accept this voice, death was his only option. Therefore, despite the worried opposition of everyone, he resumed his studies and entered medical school.
And after arduous efforts, he finally became the Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. It was the fruit he achieved because he held fast to the ‘Voice of Jehovah’—that is, the voice of God—which he heard through the missionary at that time.
The message that there is ‘God’s will’ for us, regardless of who we are or what situation we are in, is the voice of God and the voice of Jehovah that can be commonly heard anywhere. It is being heard by us right now, too.
This is the voice of God’s omnipresence, derived from His attribute of being omnipresent.
God is present everywhere in the universe, without the constraints of time and space. And He is with us in power. God is within all things, but He is not all things themselves. He is the One who is set apart as holy. And He lets us hear His will, the voice of Jehovah (3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9).
However, who can hear this voice of Jehovah? Those who absolutely need God’s voice hear it. David was a man who could not live without hearing the ‘Voice of Jehovah’ in his life.
Therefore, I confess. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; even in Sheol, You are there. Your hand will guide me and sustain me” (Psalm 139:7-10).
He was convinced that no matter how low he felt, or how alone he seemed abandoned at the edge of the world, God was already there, holding him up. Therefore, he listened to the voice of Jehovah wherever he was and in whatever he was.
Through the “voice of Jehovah” resounding amidst the storm, he praises the majesty of the Almighty God who rules the entire universe. He sings that this God of power bestows blessings of strength and peace. “The LORD gives strength to His people; the LORD blesses His people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).
He urges us to revere the great and fearsome God who rules over all of nature, to put on “holy garments,” and to give glory only to Him. David believed that life and worship could never be separated. He instructed us to worship God by putting on ‘holy garments’ and being set apart.
The voice of Jehovah, the voice of God, is “God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will.” The words of the missionary that Dr. Lee Seung-bok heard and discerned were just like this. The voice of Jehovah can be heard anywhere.
However, that voice is heard specially only by those who earnestly desire to hear it. Therefore, when we worship, we must approach Him with the confession and supplication, “Speak just one word; my soul will live.”
We must confess that without that one word, our souls are like dead lives. Only then will that one word be heard by us and save us. This desperation is the ‘holy garment’ we wear. It is a garment of humility that cannot be found in those who merely ‘believe’ in God.
When we become people who need God, people who can only live by hearing God’s voice, the voice of Jehovah will be heard everywhere.
O God the Father,
We are a people who ‘absolutely need’ You.
Let us clothe ourselves in holy garments with that desperation.
Let us hear Your voice today.
Before that one word, the voice of the LORD,
Let us respond with faith and obey!
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
