Will You Join the Refrain?

Worship and the Sevenfold Voice of Almighty God in Psalm 29

By Michael Milton, PhD, MPA

We really are at the mercy of powers out of our control.

The freezing temperatures of recent days have caused us to huddle together in the cold. We are reminded again that despite all our progress we are at the mercy of creation's elements. I cannot help but remember the story about two front-page photographs in a local small-town English newspaper. One of the photographs was a picture of sheep huddled together in the freezing cold. The other photograph correctly captured a snapshot of the local town council obviously gathered close together as they debated some village matter. It must have been a bad day for the copy editor at the village newspaper. He inadvertently switched the copy intended for each of those photographs so that the photograph of the sheep read, "Our gallant leaders gather to consider yet another important matter." Beneath the image of the local political leaders, readers were surprised to read the line, "The bewildered and shivering sheep huddle together to find warmth in the cruel conditions." There were some people in the village who read those front-page captions and thought they were "spot on!"

Ah, those powers, those power that are out of our control: freezing temperatures, town councils, unruly copy editors!

'You want to know something? I must admit that there have been times when I have felt like those village leaders: bewildered, shivering, and needing to huddle with others against the anarchic elements of the frigid environments assaulting me. Mostly, the elements that make up what we call "life" are what threaten me most: the unkind habitat of a fallen world, my own sinful shortcomings, and, yes, sometimes, metaphysical attacks that I can barely comprehend, much less see. I suspect that most of you, if you can admit it, feel beset by such forces as well. Whether it is the indignities that come with age, the frustrations and mistakes that arise from the invariable static communication between family, friends, your supervisor, your subordinate, or even a cold misunderstanding with a fellow believer, there are times when we, indeed, just want to huddle like little lambs in need of protection.

The good news is that God knows. God knows that we are truly like those little lambs huddled together against the machinations and wicked winds of "the world, the flesh, and the devil." 1

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses… (Ephesians 2:1-3).

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 NASB). 2

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:17 KJV). 3

The Good Shepherd has called us to Himself through the supernatural agency of the Church. He has given us shepherds to minister His life, that vital presence in an often-isolated existence, through Word, Sacraments, and Prayer. And in the Word of God we have a security that we sing, "a doxology in the darkness," a "sure hope" against the seemingly ungovernable powers. Such security, such hope is in Psalm 29. And if you listen with your soul you will start to sing. For there is a refrain of the voice of God that forms a veritable invitation to the spirits of those longing for meaning in this world.

Psalm 29 is a sublime psalm of King David that acknowledges both the sense of spiritual nakedness we can feel in the face of the raw, natural powers that are beyond our control, and reveals the Authority that is behind Creation. Psalm 29 does even more. The Psalm, directed to "heavenly beings" (ESV, NIV) or to the "mighty ones" (NASB; and "O ye mighty" in the KJV), has a regal seven-fold refrain: "the voice of the Lord." 4 This phrase provides the rhetorical and theological signal to the reader as it serves the greater intention in verse one of ascribing "strength and glory" to the Lord. Psalm 29 is not only a sevenfold refrain of the voice of God in creation, but is a royal invitation to join this cosmic hymn to the Creator. Rather than taking seven instances of the phrase, "the voice of the Lord" to communicate the truths of this Psalm, I seek, rather, to divide and apply the Psalm to our lives with three major themes regarding the worship due to the Lord. "Give to the Lord the glory and strength that is due to Him." How so? In three themes that move from the attribute of God in Creation to the security of the believer in life. These three themes are part of the larger divine invitation for you to rest in Christ.

The first theme is about worship and God's power.

1. Psalm 29 invites us to sing the refrain of worship for his power.

The passage opens with David calling for the heavenly beings to ascribe glory and strength to the Lord. There is some difference of opinion as to whether those beings are earthly powers or angelic creatures. The 1560 Geneva Bible offered an unambiguous evaluation of the matter:

The Prophet exhorteth the princes and rulers of the world (which for the most part think there is no God.) at the least to fear him for the thunders and tempests, for fear whereof all creatures tremble. And though thereby God threateneth sinners, yet he is always merciful to his, and moveth them thereby to praise his Name. 5

Whether you are convinced of one or the other, that is, that the Psalm is directed to angelic beings or to the princes and rulers of this world (is the question is left open by the Holy Spirit on purpose?), one thing is abundantly clear: King David, the servant of the one true Almighty God, is calling the mightiest creatures in the order of the universe to bow down before the Covenant God of Israel in the face of the powers that he cites. In other words, amidst the powers you perceive, there is a Supreme Power and that Power is the One True God. This is a very important point. You see, scholars discovered have compared Phoenician, Ugaritic, and other neighboring Ancient Near Eastern literature with this Psalm. One Old Testament theologian went so far as to assert in a peer-reviewed academic journal and subsequent book that in Psalm 29 we have evidence of Phoenician literature that made its way into the Bible. 6 Now, I utterly reject this. I stand on the shoulders of giants like John Calvin and Matthew Henry, as well as an army of biblical scholars, who insist that this Psalm was composed by none other than King David himself. 7 I do so not because bias drives my thinking, but because faith in the risen Christ controls my hermeneutic. We can always trust the Bible if we believe in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus Christ points to the Scriptures of the Old Testament as being inspired and, in fact, of speaking about him.

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me" (John 5:39); and "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself" (Luke 24:27).

Scholarship is not silent, but the scholarly findings must be collated with Christo-centric faith. Thus, with the Fathers, the Reformers, and with Biblical scholars from across the denominational spectrum we assert unequivocally that David composed Psalm 29. And yet we must also admit that there is evidence here of David taking on worshipers of Baal with his own sacred verse. 8 It appears likely that King David was interacting with the surrounding pagan poets that had ascribed power over all of creation to one, two, or myriad deities. Thus, when we recognize archeological and philological scholarship we do observe evidence of pagan poetry in the passage. So, when we connect both the extra-biblical scholarship and the hermetic that leads to inerrancy and infallibility, we see that the divinely appointed king and son of Jesse is ascribing the glory and strength that had been wrongly attributed to false nature-gods back to the one true God.

Thus, as we read the passage, and we receive it from the Lord, and follow Christ in it, we acknowledge that the Covenant God of Israel, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, should receive worship for His power. This unassailable truth is urged upon the "mighty ones," as well as you and me, by way of the sevenfold "voice of God." His voice demonstrates God's glorious self-generating power, God's inestimable creative power—He made all of the universe in six days and rested on the seventh day. The LORD, verse one, the Covenant God of Israel, is the One behind all of the otherwise inexplicable but observable wonders of the world. David is denying the unknown power behind the power to a nature god and revealing that the true "power behind the powers" is the Lord. In this, David is taunting the pagan priests and the idolatrous poets by using their own literary devices and properly ascribing the powers observed in nature to Almighty God.

You will notice the seven-fold refrain includes power over the waters, power that is full of majesty, power that can break down the forest Cedars of Lebanon, the voice of the Lord flashing in the sky and shaking the wilderness, the voice of the Lord powerful over the animal kingdom as well as the plant kingdom. And in these things David is calling humankind, indeed he is calling all of the heavenly beings and all of the princes of the earth, to recognize the one truth God.

Two years ago, at this time I was teaching a course to college chaplains. It was an intensive January course that I taught at Erskine Theological Seminary. The intensive course was on "world religions." I taught to help the students identify those several necessary variables which are present in all religions: the cultus, that is, a religious leadership and a liturgy or a form of worship, a moral code or way of living, a way of understanding where we came from and where we are going, and a moral code related to the deity or deities. As I taught them the students realize that they were encountering a number of religious ideas on their campuses. Mostly, the students were unknowingly picking and choosing from this religion and that religion to manufacture a religion of their own making. But they have religion nevertheless. My goal in teaching them was not merely to show them that the other religions had a priesthood or an order of ministers and pastors just like we did, it was not merely to show them that other religions had an order for liturgy or sacramental system of offerings and ways to please the deities. I wanted to show them that these were in fact bridges that we could cross to bring them the truth of the one true God and his only begotten son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And what is most certainly true is this: there is no evidence in other religions of the God who will come and live the life we could never live and die the death that we deserve, all our behalf, to become one of us, and to provide what He required in his covenant arrangement with us. And yet, this is precisely the truth of the Gospel. There is another important point about this: the religions of the world have these things in common because the human heart cries out for answers in such matters. The human heart cries out for an answer to the meaning of life. The human heart cries out for a pastoral order who will bring comfort in ministry and speak forward the word of the Lord and not only words but in sacrament and in prayer. The human heart, even though it is fallen and marred by the dark streak of sin that we inherited from our first parents, nevertheless, has eternity present. This is the truth talk to us by Solomon in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 11: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

Eternity is in our hearts. The echo of Eden is in our soul. What David is doing is to recognize that divinely placed echo of Eden and set it to music; the refrain of "the Voice of the Lord." We must recognize and resist the idolatry of the world or the sinful predispositions of our fallen nature, and, rather, follow King David and ascribe unto the Lord the glory and strength that is due his name and to "worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness" (verse two).

As we begin this new year make sure that the refrain in 2018 in your life is a deep, soulful refrain of worship for God's power demonstrated throughout all of the earth. Embrace the truth of his power demonstrated throughout creation and He will lead you to see the power of God which raised Jesus Christ from the dead. To believe and worship God for His power is to not only follow this Christ but is also the way to move forward into a new year and into the rest of the days of your life with hope. O my beloved in Christ, it is hope despite the darkness of Hell and despite the presence of sin that leads us to optimism about the future. God's gift of faith within you is the power of God for that brings us to worship our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let us pay attention also to another theme which is dominant in this sevenfold refrain of the voice of God in Psalm 29.

2. Psalm 29 Invites Us to Sing the Refrain of Worship for His Provision.

David points out that Almighty God is not only the source of power but he is the great source of provision. Whether it is God's incredible provision for the animal kingdom or for the plant kingdom or whether it is God's provision for mankind, the "mighty ones" are to praise Almighty God for his voice is the voice of provision. He provides what we need.

I was talking to someone just this past week about the beauty of South Africa. I remember going there in 2010 sing the magnificent "Three Sisters" mountain range overlooking what has been called "the diamond of Africa." Not only does Cape Town boast of mountains but the mountains ascend to touch the pristine white beaches and the magnificent Atlantic and Indian Oceans shoreline. There is the Cape of Good Hope where the Indian Ocean with its warm waters intermingles with the Antarctic streams of the Atlantic Ocean. There are sharks on one side, the Indian Ocean, and penguins on the other, the Atlantic. It is a Mediterranean-like environment. Many people go therefore for revitalization of their health. Why, even my own doctor has remarked that he has patients who fly over to live in South Africa part of the year for their health. But here is something else that I saw: I saw that there was corruption in the government. The corruption in the government was invariably hurting the people. There has been a mass exodus of some people away from Cape Town as ugly violence has overtaken the serene beauty. The diamond has somehow returned back to a piece of coal. Socialism has allowed "squatters' laws" in which thousands of people from throughout the Continent have come to claim their land, on the sides of highways, in city parks, and all with the result of a public health nightmare. As beautiful as the environment was it had been spoiled by a lack of management and stewardship. In a similar way, our God had provided for us, but in many ways human beings have squandered the great provisions of our lives.

God has provided for us a demonstration of his existence. In theology, we call this natural revelation. And King David is writing about this revelation that may be seen by all creatures. In fact, if some of the higher critical Old Testament scholars are correct and this is evidence of Phoenician or some other pagan literary device being used, then King David is actually using their own ignorance against them. "The voice of the Lord" is evident in all of these ways especially and in the way that God provides for us. The majestic voice of God is heard throughout all creation and in that voice, there is the voice of provision even to—as in Psalm 29: 9—the beautiful image of the voice of God causing the deer to give birth.

St. Paul tells us in Romans chapter one that sinful men deny the evident "voice of the Lord" in creation. This willful denial triggers a degrading, downward spiral from the foolishness of unbelief in God to the tragic judgment of unbelief. In fact, the apostle Paul says the unbelievers not only practice unbelief, cannot bear those who believe, but come to codify the unbelief. "Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them" (Romans 1:32 ESV).

Sadly, we are seeing evidences of St. Paul's words in our own time. We have made legal those things which God has condemned. We have condemned those things which God has said is good. And as the old Prayer Book says, "there is no health in us." 9 God has provided all that we need in his Word as well as in his world to know Him, and to know His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In His world, we see that there is indeed a great power ruling and ordering all of creation. And in His Word, we have the Word Incarnate. In Jesus Christ, we have the provision for our soul's greatest need: life with God, eternal life with God our Creator through Jesus our Way. With his precious blood, Jesus Christ paid for our sins and with his perfect life Jesus Christ provided a righteousness that we could not gain on our own. O what a magnificent provider our heavenly Father is. He not only is the dear Lord of "all creatures great and small," but He is the dear Savior of the World who says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 10 So, let the refrain of 'the voice of the Lord" ignite spontaneous worship within your soul for The Lord God is your provider. You go forth in assurance that Christ has paid the price in Christ and has provided the righteousness that you need. You go forward in confidence that God will minister to your own family in the days ahead. For the king of heaven has condescended to a family Himself; His dear mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and an earthly father, the lowly and humble Joseph. And if you were like me and you did not have a mother and father in your life, for I was an orphan (but not in Christ), God is your provider in the most basic need. He provided me with my Aunt Eva. 11 The Bible says that he will be a husband to the widow and the father to the orphan. 12 I found that God often does this within relationships in the Body of Christ.

My home church pastor and the man who became a father to me and has shepherded me through my ministry and so much of my life is my "Pastor Bob:" The Reverend Robert E. Baxter. Pastor Bob and Marylu became our family in the faith. God provided for Mae and me and our family through that godly man and wife, that godly preacher of the Gospel. God fulfilled His promise to me through Aunt Eva, through Pastor Bob and Marylu, and, especially, through the authorities, friends, loved ones, and teachers in His family, the Church. And He will fulfil His promise to you.

What is your deepest need today? The "voice of the Lord" is the refrain of the Holy Spirit singing over you:

"The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves, He will take great delight in you; in His love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV). 13

The One who causes the deer to give birth—for what we call animal "intuition" and the "natural order" of things, David calls "the voice of the Lord"—is the One who will send Guardian Angels over you, who will be with you in life and He will be with you in death and throughout eternity.

The third theme is about worship and God's promises.

3. Psalm 29 Invites Us to Sing the Refrain of Worship for His Promises.

All of this comes to a climactic conclusion as David writes these words: "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood: The Lord sits enthroned as King forever. May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace" (vv. 10-11).

The Lord sits in authority over the flood as well as over the rest of Creation. So, what does "Noah's flood" have to do with the promises of God? Why does David even bring this up? Well, he certainly brings the matter up because, first of all, there was a flood. The philosophy of uninterrupted Darwinian progress based upon the racially or genetically superior of nature can withstand neither the overwhelming geological evidence nor the Word of the Lord made certain through Jesus. 14 The Mesopotamian mythologies about the creation of the world and its early history draw on mere feelings, fanciful imaginative ideas that are limited to our own experience. Yet, the flood was so extraordinarily present in the history that even myth had to bow to the reality of a flood. Peter links unbelief and skepticism with denying the flood:

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished (2 Peter 3:1-6 ESV).

Peter affirms there was a flood in a polemic way. David says there was a flood in a poetic way. God destroyed the world because of the sinfulness of man and the violence that rose up in the earth and the sexual immorality which literally poisoned creation. 15 Yet, this God was enthroned over the flood. He caused the firmament to pour rain and the earth to gush forth mighty streams. He rearranged the very climate and environment of the earth He had placed in the cosmos. The Lord preserved mankind through Noah and his family. The Lord preserved humankind and gave a promise in the heavens, the rainbow in the sky, that the earth would not be destroyed by water again. 16 And David uses this truth that God sits enthroned over the flood to apply the truth of the promises of God to the lives of his people. Thus, King David moves from the glory of God over the flood to the glory of God in the lives of his people. He gives strength to us. He blesses us with peace. You say, "Where is this peace? Where is this peace that God hath wrought?" And I would say to you that He brought peace through His Son, Jesus Christ, and through Christ we are brought nearer to Him. Thus, even if the entire earth is embroiled in the final apocalyptic Armageddon, the true believer in Christ has a peace that surpasses all understanding:

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid" (John 14:27 ESV).

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7 KJV).

Oh, my beloved, won't you join in to sing this refrain? Sing it by faith. Let it be your doxology in the darkness. Open your heart to receive the "voice of the Lord" and ascribe unto Him the glory and strength that is His.

When I was a boy my Aunt Eva would sing a quaint spiritual song in Sunday School she had learned as a child in 1904, when she was seven years old and this song was composed:

Be not dismayed whate'er betide, God will take care of you; Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.

God will take care of you, through every day, over all the way; He will take care of you, God will take care of you. 17

I do not know if I could offer any more poignant and comforting words than those: God will take care of you. Worship God and join in the refrain of praise to our wonderful Savior for his promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Savior.

Conclusion: Septs and Clans

We have seen that King David has used a sevenfold refrain of the voice of God to ascribe strength and glory, not to some unknown God, not to some Darwinistic superstition, and certainly not to idols made by the minds of men, but he has ascribed glory and strength to God for his power, for his provision, and for his promises.

The service of the Kirkin' O' the Tartan, as a service, as I've written, is based upon the ancient Highlander custom of "the blessing of the cloth." 18 And the "cloth" is, of course, a tartan, a unique plaid-women design of material connected to a particular family. The larger family units gathered into one is called "the Clan." Naturally, the concept of the clan is not unique to the Scots. The clan is a confederation of family units bound together for the sake of power, provision, and promise (that is, agreements made with others for the sake of land rights, water rights, grazing land, and mutual protection against common enemies). Now some of you might also know that there is a subdivision to the plan. What I mean is this, some of you (like myself) don't have a clan per se. Your name is not MacArthur or your name is not Stuart or your name is not McDowell. But, some of you know that certain names have been brought, through the centuries, underneath other family tartans. Even the great John Knox, the great Reformer of Scotland, did not have his own tartan. The Knox family comes under another tartan. I know this because I went to Knox seminary and the tartan pattern inside of our academic hood belongs to another family, the MacFarlane family. In today's world, there are an increasing number of families who desire to wear the tartan. Of course, you can wear any tartan that you would like! With families from Bangkok to Boston and from Ethiopia to Estonia, all wanting a tartan for the names, they have a very ancient access to a tartan, to a clan. For in addition to clans there are had "Septs." A "sept" is a smaller family or could be an outside family that were adopted into a larger family. Once they come under the tartan of another, they are allied with that clan. Originally "septs" were born, not for fashion, but for protection from the invading Nordic Mariners (as well as from other Scots)! And here's the thing that I want to show you today: God in His Word speaks the invitation to come into His Great Clan, the Church, and wear the crimson and white tartan of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Remember how Paul put it: "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19).

As we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you and I are brought into the family of God under the Tartan of King Jesus. We receive all of the rights and privileges of Sonship. We receive all of the blessings of being the daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of lords.

Do you see the processional of pipers, dressed in their Highlander best, playing the voice of strength? You process through your life in that strength. Go forth by joining the refrain of the voice of the Lord. By repentance and faith receive the Lord and be brought under His Headship and into His family. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the Lord of the ages, our Savior Jesus Christ. Let us ascribe all glory and strength to the voice of the Lord that says, "Come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

This is the "voice of the Lord" that rules the universe and that speaks your name and welcomes you into His family.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Litany from the Book of 1928. Oxford University Press: London, 1929.

Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible. New International ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.

"The Geneva Bible: A Facsimile of the 1560 Edition." edited by Lloyd E. Berry and William Whittingham. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2013.

American Bible, Society. The Holy Bible : New American Standard. New York: American Bible Society, 2000.

Booty, John E. and England Church of. The Book of Common Prayer, 1559 : The Elizabethan Prayer Book. Charlottesville, VA: Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by the University of Virginia Press, 2005.

Day, John. "Echoes of Baal's Seven Thunders and Lightnings in Psalm Xxix and Habakkuk Iii 9 and the Identity of the Seraphim in Isaiah Vi." Vetus Testamentum 29, no. 2 (1979): 143-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1517435.

Gaster, Theodor H. "Psalm 29." The Jewish Quarterly Review 37, no. 1 (1946): 55-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1452551.

Gaster, Theodor Herzl. Psalm 29. Philadelphia: Dropsie college for Hebrew and cognate learning, 1946.

Gibson, John C. L. and G. R. Driver. Canaanite Myths and Legends. London; New York: T & T Clark International, 2004.

Malamat, A. The Amorite Background of Psalm 29. Vol. 100. Zeitschrift fŸr die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 1988.

Milton, Michael A. What God Starts God Completes : Gospel Hope for Hurting People / Michael A. Milton. Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2007.

Pritchard, James Bennett and W. F. Albright. The Ancient near East. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Snelling, Andrew A. Earth's Catastrophic Past : Geology, Creation, & the Flood. Dallas, Tex.: Institute for Creation Research, 2009.

Notes:

1. The Litany from the Book of 1928 (Oxford University Press: London, 1929).
2. Society American Bible, The Holy Bible : New American Standard (New York: American Bible Society, 2000).
3. The Holy Bible: King James Version (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2013).
4. qowl Yahweh
5. See the introductory notes to Psalm 29 in "The Geneva Bible: A Facsimile of the 1560 Edition," ed. Lloyd E. Berry and William Whittingham (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011).
6. Theodor H. Gaster, "Psalm 29," The Jewish Quarterly Review 37, no. 1 (1946), http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1452551; Theodor Herzl Gaster, Psalm 29 (Philadelphia: Dropsie college for Hebrew and cognate learning, 1946). See also: John Day, "Echoes of Baal's Seven Thunders and Lightnings in Psalm Xxix and Habakkuk Iii 9 and the Identity of the Seraphim in Isaiah Vi," Vetus Testamentum 29, no. 2 (1979), http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1517435; A. Malamat, The Amorite Background of Psalm 29, vol. 100, Zeitschrift fŸr die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (1988).
7. E.g., "The psalmist may have taken what was originally a hymn to Baal and altered it to speak of Yahweh. By substituting the name "Baal" where "Yahweh" appears, several poetic alliterations appear. The psalmist would have altered the hymn to show Yahweh's supremacy over other pagan deities" from the Faithlife Study Bible. See, also, John C. L. Gibson and G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends (London; New York: T & T Clark International, 2004).
8. See Day, Echoes. See, also, James Bennett Pritchard and W. F. Albright, The Ancient near East (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973).
9. The General Confession, "We have left undone those thinges whiche we ought to have done, and we have done those thinges which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us, but thou, O Lorde, have mercy upon us miserable offendours." See John E. Booty and England Church of, The Book of Common Prayer, 1559 : The Elizabethan Prayer Book (Charlottesville, VA: Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by the University of Virginia Press, 2005).
10. Hebrews 13:5.
11. Michael A. Milton, What God Starts God Completes : Gospel Hope for Hurting People / Michael A. Milton (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2007).
12. "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation" (Psalm 68:5 ESV).
13. Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, New International ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003).
14. For geological and environmental perspective on the flood see Andrew A. Snelling, Earth's Catastrophic Past : Geology, Creation, & the Flood (Dallas, Tex.: Institute for Creation Research, 2009).
15. Genesis 6.
16. "I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth" (Genesis 9:11 ESV).
17. Civilla Martin, "God Will Take Care of You," Hymnary.org, accessed January 08, 2018, https://hymnary.org/text/be_not_dismayed_whateer_betide.
18. For a brief historical sketch and the meaning of the Kirkin' O' the Tartan, see Michael A. Milton, "Kirkin' O' the Tartan and Our Adoption into God's Family," Faith for Living, January 06, 2018, accessed January 09, 2018, http://michaelmilton.org/2018/01/06/kirkin-o-the-tartan-and-our-adoption-into-gods-family/.