The Day They Opened the Spillways

In the summer of 1983, record snowmelt from the Colorado Rockies forced engineers at Glen Canyon Dam to open the spillways for the first time since the reservoir had filled. Over thirty thousand cubic feet of water per second roared through tunnels carved into Arizona sandstone. Rangers standing on the dam felt the concrete shudder beneath their boots. Mist climbed hundreds of feet into the desert sky. Visitors who had come for a scenic overlook found they couldn't hear each other speak — there was only the water, and the staggering awareness that something far bigger than themselves was at work.

That is the world the psalmist paints in Psalm 29. Seven times David writes "the voice of the LORD," and each time the volume rises. His voice thunders over the waters. It splinters the cedars of Lebanon. It shakes the wilderness of Kadesh and strips the forests bare. This is not a whisper or a suggestion. This is the Almighty speaking, and creation can only tremble in response.

But the psalm does not end in devastation. It ends here: "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace." The same voice that shatters cedars bends low to bless. The God enthroned above every flood you will face is not a distant sovereign — He is a King who speaks His strength and His shalom directly over your life.