Quick Summary:

Psalm 29 uses powerful images from nature to celebrate the awe-inspiring VOICE OF GOD:
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedar trees…
the voice of the LORD splits the fames of fire;
the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the voice of the LORD makes the oak trees writhe…
and in the temple of the LORD all are crying, “GLORY!”

This VOICE, this GOD, commands RESPECT, AWE, even FEAR. But this psalm is paired with Isaiah 42 today, and from this text—the first of the so-called SERVANT SONGS—we get a quite different impression about how God chooses to be present in the world.
HE WILL NOT CRY OF LIFT UP HIS VOICE, OR MAKE IT HEARD IN THE STREET,
says the prophet, A BRUISED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK;
A DIMLY BURNING WICK HE WILL NOT QUENCH.

Well, which is it? Which God do we get?

When we trace the gospel story out, follow Jesus from his baptism at the Jordan to the wilderness to his ministry in Galilee and, at last, to Jerusalem, we learn that it is finally through the crucified and risen One that the VOICE of God is known as a voice of grace and mercy, a voice that fills the void and wills our good, a voice which calls us beloved.