Daily Thought for Tuesday 12th May 2026
“More majestic than the thunders of the mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the LORD!”
Psalm 93:4 (NRSV)
The startling majesty of God
Lorna Souter
While on holiday in the little fishing village of Helmsdale in Sutherland a few years ago, I took a walk one day past the small harbour and along the shoreline. It was a dramatic day because the sea was awash with one wave after another chasing onto the shore. All the way along the coast (about 100 metres or so of the sea coming in) was white with one large wave after another pouring in, all accompanied by a loud, roaring sound. It was amazing to just stand and watch the power of the sea.
As I was reading through Psalm 93 and came to verse 4, this was the picture that came again to mind in reflecting on the majesty of God on high that is more majestic than the thundering waves of the sea.
It’s perhaps a wilder picture of God than we might generally turn to. Probably more often it’s comforting and encouraging to see God as our refuge, a guiding shepherd, an ever-present help in time of trouble. But it’s good, too, to take in a fresh awareness of the awesome majesty of God. My father often used to say that he disapproved of people who seemed to keep God in their back pocket, meaning that they had a fixed, comfortable picture of God and they had lost a sense of humbling awe before God.
Even as Psalm 93 reminds us of the breathtaking majesty of God, the Father, so also in this season, we can keep in mind a fresh, startling awareness of the radiant majesty of the ascended Jesus and, as we will shortly be thinking about, too, the wild majesty of the coming Holy Spirit in flames of fire and mighty rushing wind. We do well constantly to be reminded and humbled that we are loved by such a fearfully majestic God.
Shall we pray?
Loving God, we give you thanks for reminders of your startling majesty and pray that we will always keep a fresh awareness and be filled with growing awe before you. Amen.
Lorna Souter is minister of Cockpen & Carrington linked with Lasswade & Rosewell in Lothian & Borders Presbytery.