Meditations on the Psalms

The Testimony of a Godly Elder

1 In You, O LORD, I put my trust; let me never be put to shame. 2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline Your ear to me, and save me. 3 Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort con-tinually; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. 4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth. 6 By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother's womb. My praise shall be continually of You. 7 I have become as a wonder to many, but You are my strong refuge. 8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day. 9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails. 10 For my enemies speak against me; and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together, 11 Saying, "God has forsaken him; pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him." 12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! 13 Let them be confounded and consumed who are adversaries of my life; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor who seek my hurt. 14 But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more. 15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits. 16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. 17 O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day I declare Your wondrous works. 18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. 19 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? 20 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 21 You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. 22 Also with the lute I will praise you -- and Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed. 24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame who seek my hurt.

This psalm expresses the feelings of a godly elder who testifies of his past experiences. As he remembers God's dealings with him, he admits his weaknesses and recalls the trials he went through. Yet, he does not forget the talents, the natural and supernatural gifts that God gave him. Remembering the past, his hearts fills with hope for the future.

This psalm is a reminder to the elders to sing a testimony about their past life with the Lord. It also inspires the young to know what they may say as they advance in age. It is a psalm for all ages. Pastors often read it to the sick when they visit them.

The psalm includes the following:

• First: The Confidence of the Godly Elder (verse 1-4)

• Second: The Memories of the Godly Elder (verse 5-8)

• Third: The Troubles of the Godly Elder (verse 9-13)

• Fourth: The Victory of the Godly Elder (verse 14-24)

	First: The Confidence of the Godly Elder

(verse 1-4)

The first three verses of this psalm are quoted from the onset of Psalm 31. Most likely, David's words in Psalm 31 were the favourite song of the author of this psalm. He opened with these verses to declare his confidence in the Lord in verses 1 and 3, and in verses 2 and 4 he starts to ask the Lord for things.

1. The reassurance of the godly elder: "In You, O LORD, I put my trust; let me never be put to shame... Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress" (verse 1,3). This is a declaration of confidence in the Lord and His protection; this is why he will never be put to shame. The Apostle Paul put it in much the same way: "According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed" (Philippians 1:20). He abides in God, and shall never be shaken; he hides in the shelter of the Almighty, as David hid in the cave from Saul. The psalmist knows that God is always a rock of refuge for him, for He gave a command to save and deliver him. God commanded light to shine out of darkness, and it was so. And when He gives a command to save, salvation surely comes. He is always there with His righteous servant; and the righteous run to Him and are safe (Proverbs 18:10). He is the Lord of nature, who commands it to serve His servants; He is the Lord of Providence, who charges it for their good; and He is the Lord of angels, who directs them to guard His people.

   There is a special relationship between the psalmist and God, which makes him address God with certainty: "You are my rock and my fortress." God's fortress is impregnable to all attacks, yet it has a window that is ever open so that prayers may ascend as sweet incense.

2. The request of the godly elder: "Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline Your ear to me, and save me... Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man" (verse 2,4). He appeals to the Lord's righteousness to deliver him from the wicked and cruel man, because the Lord judges everyone according to their works. He also seeks the Lord's reassuring intimacy when he says, "Incline Your ear to me." God is not far away, but his heart needs the reassurance anyway.

   There are two lessons for us in the request of the godly elder:

   1. True prayer is a faith prayer: "For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Let the believer "ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord" (James 1:5-7).

   2. True prayer is an expectant prayer: He who cries out to God in prayer knows well that his Father who is in heaven gives good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:11). Because He hears prayer, to Him all flesh will come (Psalm 65:2). As a believer, you speak God with the assurance that He hears you and is able to help you. He is wise in all the advice He gives, for He is Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6).

	Second: The Memories of the Godly Elder

(verse 5-8)

The psalmist mentions three memories, which he follows with words of thanks and praise:

1. He remembers the days of his youth: "For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth" (verse 5). How wonderful it is to recall God's dealings with us and conclude that "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1). Another elder, Jacob, said as much to his son Joseph in his last days, "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day" (Genesis 48: 15). During his youth, the psalmist experienced the goodness and care of God who preserved him at the time of temptation. It seems that God seemed to say to him, "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth" (Revelation 3:10). God set his feet upon a rock and established his steps (Psalm 40:2). Even when he fell, he was not utterly cast down; for the LORD upheld him with His hand (Psalm 37:24). God preserved David from Goliath and Saul, and used him in some quite heroic acts. In old age He would also keep him safe from all danger, and use him in mightier works.

2. He remembers how God brought him into being: "By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother's womb. My praise shall be continually of You" (verse 6). "For You formed my inward parts... Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them" (Psalm 139:13,16). Before the psalmist was aware of his own existence, while he was yet an embryo, and after his birth, when he could do nothing on his own, God gave him life and upheld him. Similarly, He told Jeremiah that "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you" (Jeremiah 1:5). His promises still hold true to all His people: "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb: even to your old age, I am He, and even to grey hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you" (Isaiah 46:3,4).

3. He remembers how he was in his sufferings and trials "as a wonder to many": "I have become as a wonder to many, but You are my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day" (verse 7,8). They saw him suffer from afflictions and thought that his God deserted him. But the afflictions increased his determination to hold fast to his God, and as a result, God remained a strong tower for him. He went through the experience of the suffering Messiah, thus astonishing many (Isaiah 52:14), because of what had become of him. But after all, divine victory was his.

God was with the godly elder since he was an embryo, carried him with love and might in his youth, and was a strong tower for him in times of trouble, therefore both his friends and foes were astonished. As a result, the mouth of the godly elder was filled with God's praise, and he spent the whole day thanking, praising and glorifying the God of heavenly glory for what He did for him.

	Third: The Troubles of the Godly Elder

(verse 9-13)

The godly elder mentions two sorts of troubles he went through and how he overcame them in prayer:

1. Troubles of physical fatigue: "Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails" (verse 9). Every elderly person is apt to get into these problems. Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 depicted old age in a figurative poem full of images and metonymy. The author describes the years in which a man takes no pleasure, when the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, meaning that pleasure comes to an end because death is near. "And the clouds do not return after the rain," since they have already poured down all the good rain. In old age one's arms, "the keepers of the house," start to tremble, and the feet, "the strong men," bow down. Also the teeth, "the grinders," cease and the eyes, "those that look through the windows," grow dim. "The doors," (the ears and eyes) through which sound and light comes in, will be shut. The sound made by the teeth, "the sound of grinding," becomes low, while sleep becomes light and one rises up at the sound of a bird! An old man does not take pleasure any more in the sound of music; for him "all the daughters of music are brought low." He becomes "afraid of height," in that his legs grow weaker and incapable of climbing up any more. "The almond tree blossoms," namely his hair grows grey, and "The grasshopper is a burden," because, as small as it is, he has no strength to lift it up! One's appetite for food ceases "and desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home." And as he dies, the mourners go about the streets, because the silver cord (carrying the golden olive oil to the branch of the lampstand) comes loose, and the golden bowl (by which the lampstand is fed) is broken. The pitcher shatters at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the well. Then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

   God has never rejected his loved ones in the time of their old age, when their strength fails. It was said of Moses that he "was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigour diminished" (Deuteronomy 34:7). Caleb said, "Here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in" (Joshua 14:10,11). The divine promise is true that "Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).

2. Troubles from the people around him (verse 10,11): Some people rejoice when they see others in trouble. The enemies of the godly elder monitored his every step; they said every evil word against him. Hearing of his physical ailments and afflictions, they assumed that God had deserted him and would not deliver him any more. They made up their mind to pursue him and hurt his reputation, finances and children. This is very much reminiscent of Rabshakeh, the commander of the Assyrian army, who came to invade the kingdom of Judah and sent messengers to King Hezekiah, saying, "Have I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it'" (Isaiah 36:10). Yet, he lied in all he said. The only thing that was left for Hezekiah to do was to turn to God. He tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD to seek help (Isaiah 37:1). This is what the godly elder did when his bodily weakness and enemies gave him trouble: He turned to God in prayer and found a way of deliverance. He cried out to his divine Saviour, "O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! Let them be confounded and consumed who are adversaries of my life; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour who seek my hurt" (verse 12,13). And God must have listened to the cry for help and sent speedy assistance as He usually did. So the godly elder declared in the final part of the psalm that his faith overcame, and that his enemies were covered with shame and dishonour as they saw God lifting up the one they persecuted. They thought that God left him, but he "who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).

	Fourth: The Victory of the Godly Elder

(verse 14-24)

It is so wonderful to hear the psalmist's tone changing from one of fear and helplessness to one of assurance and confident declaration of his victory in God. This declaration takes up about half of the psalm.

1. The godly elder declares his victory in many ways (verse 14-17):

   1. Through praise: "But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more" (verse 14). "But" explains the difference between what he does and what his enemies did. They tried to frustrate him, but his hope in God remained strong, because God has not given him a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

      This was not the end of the God's mercies to the psalmist, and they will never be, for they are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). Thus the psalmist multiplies his praise to the Lord, because he is awed by Him and his mighty deeds. He sings out his thanksgiving even more than ever before.

   2. Through his daily confession in secret and among his family (verse 15,16): The occasions on which God rescued him were so many. Impressed, he reacts by spending the whole day speaking about them. He says in this respect, "I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only" (verse 16). This means that he talks about God's mighty deeds, about His unique righteousness and justice. The Lord has saved him from his enemies and has given him back what was rightfully his. He has also exonerated him from his sins and has given him a right standing with Himself, so much so that he is able to say like Paul, "Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 3:9).

   3. Through his daily conversation about the Lord with his friends and acquaintances: "O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day I declare Your wondrous works" (verse 17). He says what the Lord has taught him since his youth, and tells about the wonders he has done for him. What a great teacher and what a glorious school! This is the theoretical and theological school where the Lord is known for who He really is, as well as the practical school where one knows what the Lord does; both in health and in sickness, in plenty and in want, in youth and in old age. We learn from the psalmist to witness to everyone we meet about the Lord's faithfulness, and proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. It is also a commandment to tell what great things the Lord has done for us, and how He has had compassion on us.

2. The victorious godly elder asks with assurance (verse 18-21):

   Having declared his victory, the psalmist moves on to prayer. He asks God not to forsake him (verse 18). He depends on the righteous God, who gives everyone what is rightfully his, and does great and mighty acts that none can imitate (verse 19). God was good to him in the past and He will surely be good to him in the future; He will again comfort him (verse 20,21).

   "Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come" (verse 18). The godly elder asks God to preserve his health, so that he could hand down to his children, grandchildren, and the coming generation his own experiences with God, to teach them about God's faithfulness and love. They were supposed to recall the memory of the miracle of the exodus in the reality of their contemporary lives. Then the godly elder would attain what Samuel spoke about: "I am old and grey-headed, and look, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my childhood to this day" (1 Samuel 12:2).

   For this request to be granted he had to depend on God's unique righteousness and transcendence. He is the incomparable One who dwells in heaven: "Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You?" (verse 19). "Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exodus 15:11). True, the Lord allows His people to see trouble, but He must raise them up from the bottom of the pit, so they can enjoy the sun of righteousness with healing in its wings. The Lord increased the greatness of the psalmist and comforted him, so he could not help saying, "O LORD, I will praise You; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me" (Isaiah 12:1). Similarly, everyone who obtains God's righteousness through Christ sees God's highness and great deeds, experiences one miracle and one grace after another, and says with the godly elder, "You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth" (verse 20). God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13). "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). If he allows us to be chastened at present, He will eventually grant us peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11), just as our psalmist said, "You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side" (verse 21). This was David's experience. The Lord took him from following the sheep, made him a King, and him a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth (2 Samuel 7:9). This also happened with Mordechai, the doorkeeper of the king, whom the king delighted to honour. He became the prime minister of the greatest empire in his time (Esther 6:8). How great is He who "suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).

3. The godly elder sings for the joy of victory (verse 22-24):

   As a natural result of God's comforting mercy the voice of the godly elder rings out in praise to God: "Also with the lute I will praise you; and Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel" (verse 22). His song expressed his feelings about God: "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:18,19).

   Joyful singing comes from the depth of the redeemed soul that says, "My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed" (verse 23). For "The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned" (Psalm 34:22). "He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me" (Psalm 55:18). Because of the greatness of this redemption, the soul sings and shouts, "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever" (Revelation 1:5,6).

   Singing comes also from the heart that trusts in its victory and peace: "My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; for they are brought to shame who seek my hurt" (verse 24). The tongue of the godly elder talks of God's righteousness and justice, because he realises that his enemies must be ashamed, and he must be delivered. This is the lot of all who say, "For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth" (verse 5).

	Questions

1. The godly elder remembered three things to be thankful for. What are they?

2. The godly elder mentioned two things that troubled him. What are they? How did he overcome them?

The Kingdom of the Messiah

A Psalm of Solomon. 1 Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king's Son. 2 He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice. 3 The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. 4 He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. 5 They shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. 6 He shall come down like rain upon the grass be-fore mowing, like showers that water the earth. 7 In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow be-fore Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. 11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; all na-tions shall serve Him. 12 For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. 13 He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy. 14 He will redeem their life from oppression and vi-olence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight. 15 And He shall live; and the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; prayer also will be made for Him continually, and daily He shall be praised. 16 There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, on the top of the mountains; its fruit shall wave like Lebanon; and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 17 His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed. 18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things! 19 And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.

Psalm 71 spoke of God's righteousness, whereas this psalm speaks of the blessings that will overflow from His representative on earth. The people of old thought this representative would be Solomon the son of David, but in fact, it was the awaited Saviour the Messiah who would descend from David. We have already seen many psalms in which the author cries out from injustice, but in this one we see the just king upholding the cause of the wronged and stopping the misdeeds of the oppressors. The superscription of the psalm says it is "A Psalm of Solomon," which means that it is about him and for him. The Syriac translations render the superscription thus: "A Psalm of David when he made Solomon King, a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, and a call for the nations." Most probably, David wrote this psalm, which Solomon heard recorded before, or shortly after, his father's death.

In this psalm, David regards Solomon's reign as a type for the coming Saviour, the Messiah and King. It is evident that Solomon had a great beginning, but his end was a painful one. He was so cruel to his subjects that they said to his son Rehoboam after his death, "Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you" (2 Chronicles 10:4). But as Rehoboam refused to grant the people's wish, the kingdom was divided, and thus David's expectation of Solomon did not come true. The content of our psalm, then, must find its fulfilment in the Messiah and King, the Son of David, of whom it was said, "Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth'" (Zechariah 9:9,10). The early church chose this psalm for Christmastide, because the Magi came a long way to pay homage and worship the born King, offering Him gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). Let us pray that the words of this psalm be fulfilled in our lives, so that Christ may reign over us.

The psalm includes the following:

• First: The Kingdom of Christ is Just (verse 1-7)

• Second: The Kingdom of Christ is Universal (verse 8-15)

• Third: The Kingdom of Christ is Everlasting (verse 16-19)

	First: The Kingdom of Christ is Just

(verse 1-7)

There are three ideas in these seven verses:

1. The people ask for a just reign: "Give the king Your judgements, O God, and Your righteousness to the king's Son" (verse 1). "The judgement is God's" (Deuteronomy 1:17), but He gave his judgements to the king's Son. The earthly king has power that comes from his father, the previous King, as well as power invested in himself. God appeared to King Solomon, the son of King David, in Gibeon in a dream and asked him what He should give him. So Solomon asked for an understanding heart to discern between good and evil (1 Kings 3:6-9). And God granted his wish. Even though he loved to walk in the statutes of his father David, Solomon still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places, like the pagans, therefore the prophecies of this psalm were not fulfilled in him. They had to be fulfilled in the Messiah, the coming King, who has the throne of David and about Whom the angel Gabriel said to Mary before she conceived Him, "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32,33). This is what was said of Him by the Spirit of prophecy, "The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him ... and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked" (Isaiah 11:2-4). This expectation will also be fulfilled in Christ who will come back to our planet as a righteous Judge: "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will" (John 5:21). Therefore, we call out to God today, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).

2. A description of the righteous kingdom (verse 2-6):

   1. A kingdom that produces peace: "He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness" (verse 2,3). It is a kingdom of righteousness for the broken-hearted who need the protection of righteous government (Isaiah 3:14,15). This was Christ's public statement in the synagogue of Nazareth: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted" (Luke 4:16-19). Christ ushered in a true jubilee year, "the acceptable year of the LORD," in which debts are cancelled, lands sold revert to their owners, and the slaves are set free. This has always, and will always, be His call: "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

      As a result of the justice and righteousness that will reign over all, "The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness." The mountains and the little hills symbolise the nobility and the upper class folk. Peace prevails when righteousness rules. A righteous king reassures his people and causes the high officials and the nobles to bring peace to the people. A high mountain sees the need of a low valley and pours down onto it that which God spilled over it. "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it ... He shall judge between the nations ... nation shall not lift up sword against nation ... Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever" (Isaiah 2:2-4; 32:16,17). He is the Anointed One, the King and the Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. He is also the King of righteousness and justice owing to the fact that He paid our debts on the cross, as well as the King of peace because He reconciled us to God. When He comes to the earth, He will visit His people with mercy, reward their faithfulness, and punish their enemies who did them wrong.

   2. A kingdom that teaches godliness: "He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations" (verse 4,5). The judges of the Israelites neglected justice: "They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper, and the right of the needy they do not defend" (Jeremiah 5:28). The Messiah came to save them, because His kingdom brings justice to the oppressed, those who need special protection, the lonely, the crushed, those who are not cared for, and those who cannot face life (Isaiah 10:2). "For judgement is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement" (James 2:13).

      When the king is righteous, people see the righteousness of heaven clearly, and all hearts are filled with the fear of God: "They shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations." The light of the godly shines from their hearts as long as the light from the sun and the moon remains. People will fear God under the sun and the moon throughout all generations.

   3. A kingdom of plenty that gladdens the hearts: "He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth. In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more" (verse 6,7). Grass means plenty of food for both man and animal. Under a righteous king the people are filled with God's love that comes "like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth" (Hosea 6:3). Righteousness leads to prosperity, and a righteous king always governs a kingdom where all the needs of his subjects are met. This is what David says in his final song: "He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain" (2 Samuel 23:3,4). Then there will be "showers of blessing" (Ezekiel 34:26), and "times of refreshing" will come "from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).

      Because of the king's righteousness, "In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more." The righteous will be happy and their faces will shine. They will hold important positions and peace shall abound until the time ends and the moon will be no more. And then the saying will come true: "But the righteous will flourish like foliage" (Proverbs 11:28).

	Second: The Kingdom of Christ is Universal

(verse 8-15)

When the people come to know this righteous King and enjoy his just rule, they will love to unite under Him, and his rule will include them all.

1. The extent of the Messiah's kingdom (verse 9-11):

   1. It reaches all the earth: "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth" (verse 8). This symbolic description of the expansion of the kingdom is borrowed from the boundaries of the Land of Promise: "And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the Sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River" (Exodus 23:31). It is also borrowed from the boundaries of Solomon's kingdom: "So Solomon reigned... from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him" (1 Kings 4:21,24). This expansion is also described thus: "They shall come to you from Assyria and the fortified cities, from the fortress to the River, from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain" (Micah 7:12). The whole world belongs to the Lord, and He gives it over to His Anointed One: "His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth"' (Zechariah 9:10).

   2. All nations submit to it: "Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust" (verse 9). Those who dwell in the wilderness are nomads, free to move about, and not limited by boundaries. Yet, they grovel on the ground before the universal King in abject submission: "They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the LORD our God" (Micah 7:17). This will take place at the second coming of Christ, when "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10,11).

   3. All kings submit to it: "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him" (verse 10,11). Those rich kings are obliged to give gifts to the Messiah and King, as sign of submission to Him. They will come from everywhere: From Tarshish, which was a rich Phoenician colony in the south of Spain, and the farthest point of the known world at that time, and from Seba, which is Ethiopia. As the kings offer their offerings and gifts, and worship the universal King, all their nations will worship Him. This prophecy was only partially fulfilled in Solomon. "So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms... They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life and men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon" (1 Kings 4:21,34). The whole prophecy, however, will be fulfilled, both spiritually and physically, in Christ when He comes again to our planet: "And I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession" (Psalm 2:8).

2. The reasons of the expansion of the Messiah's kingdom (verse 12-15):

   1. The Messiah's compassion: "For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy" (verse 12,13). Christ's rule does not expand by the sword, but through justice, love and extending help to those under it. This kingdom is spiritual and it overcomes spiritually. The heart of the ruler is full of compassion, mercy, tenderness and love. He is Almighty, and there is nothing too difficult for Him. He is also just and does not approve of injustice. He appreciates the need of the needy who cry out to Him, and the helpless who cannot help themselves. The Lord spares the poor from the wrong of others, as well as from their own wrong. "The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 29:19).

   2. The Messiah's redemption: "He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight" (verse 14). Christ, the Good Shepherd, saves his lambs from the wolves, and redeems their souls by laying down His own life for them. He esteems their blood, which is their life (Leviticus 17:11). He sees them worthy of being redeemed by His great sacrifice. He supplies them with all their needs, saying, "The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, their tongues fail for thirst. I, the LORD, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them" (Isaiah 41:17). When King Saul was pursuing David, he himself fell into the hands of David. Instead of killing him, David forgave him. This caused Saul to say to David, "My life was precious in your eyes this day" (1 Samuel 26:21). We offended the Lord with our sins, and deserve to be destroyed. Yet, in His mercy, He regards our souls precious in His eyes and redeems us from the wrong we did to ourselves and from the wrong we did to others. He saves! How great is the redemption that Christ effected on the cross! "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7).

   3. The Messiah's gift: "And He shall live; and the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; prayer also will be made for Him continually, and daily He shall be praised" (verse 15). Christ redeems the life of the believer and gives him great gifts. These gifts are compared to "the gold of Sheba," which is the best quality of gold, and the rarest. In appreciation of this divine kindness, the believer offers up to Christ the dearest thing he has, which the Magi also did (Matthew 2:11).

   Christ prays for the believer, saying, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word" (John 17:20). He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:8,25). In appreciation of this divine kindness, the believer prays always and does not lose heart.

   Christ blesses the believer all day long, from the rising of the sun till the time it goes down, as well as preserving him from the dangers of the night. Therefore the believer blesses the Lord all day long, saying, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits" (Psalm 103:2).

	Third: The Kingdom of Christ is Everlasting

(verse 16-19)

In these four verses, the psalmist declares that the Messiah's kingdom will grow, increase and receive glorification and praise from the entire earth.

1. The Messiah's everlasting kingdom will grow unceasingly: "There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, on the top of the mountains; its fruit shall wave like Lebanon; and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed" (verse 16,17). The Messiah's kingdom starts out like a handful of grain sown on the top of the mountains. It soon grows; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head (Mark 4:28). The winds blow on it, causing its to grow deep into the soil. It becomes like the cedar of Lebanon in beauty and loftiness, and like the dewy grass of the land that refreshes whoever beholds it or walks upon it. "I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall grow like the lily, and lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; his beauty shall be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall be revived like grain, and grow like a vine" (Hosea 14:5-7). "Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit" (Isaiah 27:6). "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches" (Matthew 13:31,32). There is a potential power in the seed of the word of God, and it must work and expand. The Holy Spirit will make sure that it will have an effect. It will effectively continue to work among everyone forever, causing many people to repent and return to God. Thus the prophecy will be fulfilled: "Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My standard for the peoples; they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders Then you will know that I am the LORD, for they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me" (Isaiah 49:22,23). So the name of the Messiah will endure forever and His kingdom will never come to an end. "His name shall continue as long as the sun," and it will go from one country to another. "And men shall be blessed in Him" because He is their generous benefactor. "All nations shall call Him blessed" through words of songs of glorification like the ones in the following two verses.

2. All the earth praises the Messiah's everlasting kingdom: "Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen" (verse 18,19). They will praise Him for His singular wonders, of which Job said, "He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number" (Job 9:10). He works wonders in nature, which declares His glory; and in the firmament, which shows His handiwork. He works wonders for His people "telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done" (Psalm 78:4). This is how He demonstrates his power and love. Who else can do these wonderful acts?! He alone is able to do these things; so let us bless Him, because He alone is worthy. The whole earth will continue praising the Lord forever, and will be completely filled with His glory. All the peoples of the earth will bow down before the One who said, "As I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD" (Numbers 14:21).

   The people will hear this call to praise everywhere: "Stand up and bless the LORD your God forever and ever! Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise!" (Nehemiah 9:5). And their answer will be: Amen, Amen! While lifting up their hands, they will bow their heads and worship the LORD with their faces to the ground (Nehemiah 8:6). "Blessed be the LORD forevermore! Amen and Amen" (Psalm 89:52). "Blessed be the LORD from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, 'Amen!' Praise the LORD!" (Psalm 106:48).

Oh, are we not blessed with such a great King, whose kingdom is everlasting, universal and righteous! He chose us to be His own people, so let us indeed be his people and the sheep of His pasture!

	Questions

1. The psalmist mentions three descriptions for the just kingdom. Mention them.

2. Why does the kingdom of the Messiah expand?

Astonishment at the Prosperity of the Wicked.

A Psalm of Asaph. 1 Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. 6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. 7 Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish. 8 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning op-pression; they speak loftily. 9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. 11 And they say, "How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?" 12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. 13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all day long I have been plagued, and chas-tened every morning. 15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. 16 When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I un-derstood their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. 21Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. 22 I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, and after-ward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works.

This psalm is a complaint lodged with God by a suffering, persecuted believer. The believer saw the wicked prospering, having more success from their wickedness than godliness and purity would bring, so he doubted God's goodness to the righteous. He began to consider godliness and purity stagnant commodities, or even harmful, and think that the evil of the wicked is useful and beneficial. Right at the start of his astonishment, he was afraid that if he revealed his opinion to the godly worshippers, they would stumble, but after his astonishment was over and he found the answer, he recorded all his feelings in this psalm.

The darkness of the psalmist's thoughts cleared up as he entered into the sanctuary of the Lord. Then he saw things in perspective and recognised that stagnation and desolation will suddenly befall the prosperity of the wicked. Godliness, however, has the promise of life, both present and future. Later, he confessed his mistake to the Lord, and offered Him thanksgiving for the glory of being close to Him.

This psalm speaks of the astonishment of the believer as he passes through inexplicable crises. It teaches us that the best we can do is appear in the presence of God and ask Him to answer all our questions. He is not bothered by our doubts, nor does he drive us away from His presence because of our lack of understanding. Rather, He brings us closer to Him, and unravels the mysteries of His love. At this we cannot but say along with the author of this Psalm, "Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory" (verses 23,24).

Psalm 73 reminds us of Psalm 37, in which the believer has a problem with the prosperity of the wicked and the troubles of the believers. So he tells the believers to have patience and trust in the Lord. For the prosperity of the wicked is short-lived, while the reward of the believer is everlasting. The psalm also reminds us of Psalm 49, which expresses the fact that wealth does not continue bringing happiness to its owner, whereas God's care of the righteous is permanent and never ceases. Although Psalm 37 and Psalm 49 are alike in speaking of the prosperity of the wicked, Psalm 73 adds another dimension. That is, the troubles and astonishment of the believers as they see the wicked prosper. It is marked by blessing the believer for his joyous relationship with the Lord and explaining the beauty of intimacy with God in this life and the one to come, as being the ultimate good. Life in this world is only one chapter of one's life story. There is a much better chapter to come in the life to come. How beautiful it is when the believer surrenders his all to the Lord and expresses his love for Him, knowing that this love is superior to everything in the universe.

Whoever is weary and confused and has a complaint is to kneel before God to learn in His sanctuary as Asaph did. Asking is not forbidden and doubting is never a crime. Christ answered the doubts of His disciple Thomas when he doubted in His resurrection, and said, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing" (John 20:27). This is the same thing He does with every believer who asks and complains. The Lord answers the questions and disperses all doubts, causing the believer to shout out loud along with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!"

The psalm contains the following:

• First: A Declaration of Trust (verse 1)

• Second: The Believer Wavers in his Faith (verses 2-14)

• Third: The Believer Finds the Reassuring Answer (verses 15-28)

	First: A Declaration of Trust

(verse 1)

Before the psalmist introduces us to the maze of his doubts and questions, he begins the psalm with his conclusion, "Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart." "Truly" God is the only One who is good to His people. Even if He allows troubles to come in, He is still loving and "good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him" (Lamentations 3:25), and to Israel, who "[has] struggled with God and with men" (Genesis 32:28). The psalmist has struggled with the Lord in that he asked and complained, and was blessed by Him just as Jacob was blessed when he struggled for obtaining grace. He was thus assured that the Lord was good to the pure in heart "for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).

When the goodness of God shines upon us, darkness is dispersed from our eyes, and we begin to see Him as eternally good, because His goodness wells up from His good character. So we are assured of this goodness even though the circumstances we go through say quite the opposite. For the sun of His love shines beyond the clouds of cares and the black outward cover contains a great message of love. Thus we realise what the psalmist meant as he said, "Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation" (Psalm 24:3-5).

	Second: The Believer Wavers in his Faith

(verses 2-14)

1. The believer's problem: "But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (verses 2,3). To say "as for me" means that the psalmist disagreed with the Lord until he almost lost sight of His straight paths. He embarked on a perilous journey, during which his feet almost fell into the pit of despair, because he walked in a miry land. But for God's mercy he would have slipped, because he was envious of the prosperity of the wicked. Certainly this was contrary to David's advice: "Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb" (Psalm 37:1,2). The philosopher said, "Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways ... Do not let your heart envy sinners, but in the fear of the LORD continue all the day" (Proverbs 3:31; 23:17). He should have rather sung along with David, "Uphold my steps in your paths that my footsteps may not slip" (Psalm 17:5) and with the sons of Korah, "Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way" (Psalm 44:18).

   In the overwhelming sufferings of the psalmist, brought upon him by his troubles, he forgot that those he felt envious of were "boastful". They thought they could live and prosper without the Lord. They were not aware of the fact that "the boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity" (Psalm 5:5). They did not realise that they were wicked, and all the wicked must perish.

2. The cause of the believer's problem:

   The psalmist mentions four causes for his problem:

   1. The comfort of the wicked: "For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men" (verses 4,5). The psalmist says that he never saw a wicked man die in the prime of his youth, nor held in captivity, nor plagued with a mortal disease, nor killed by someone else. He always saw the wicked in good health: "their strength is firm" although "man is born to trouble" (Job 5:7). The wicked did not suffer from the troubles that good men have to endure. He must have been reminiscing about his forefather Jacob when Pharaoh asked him his age. Jacob said, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil" (Genesis 47:9). How possibly could the forefather of the tribes of Israel suffer while the strength of the wicked grows firm?!

   2. The pride of the wicked: "Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish" (verses 6,7). The psalmist was astonished at the pride of the wicked, for when they lived in comfort, they grew boastful and wore their pride like a necklace around their necks. Their life turned into continual violence and oppression of the poor, as if their violence were an indispensable garment. David has described the wicked as having "clothed himself with cursing as with his garment" (Psalm 109:18). When they ate what they extorted from the poor, they became fat and their eyes protruded due to their extreme fatness! Eliphaz the Temanite described one of those wicked and boastful people thus: "He has covered his face with his fatness, and made his waist heavy with fat" (Job 15:27). Their pride reached the climax, so that they excelled over their predecessors in wickedness and improved on them. The psalmist had never seen or heard of someone with such pride!

   3. The speech of the wicked: "They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth" (verses 8,9). The wicked relaxed, grew proud and op-pressed others. So they thought they were gods and that their words are statutes to be believed by those who hear them! They spoke as though they were in power, and proclaimed their prin-ciples as though they were unchangeable divine laws. They blas-phemed God and insulted men who were created in His image.

   4. The followers of wicked: "Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, 'How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'" (verses 10,11). The believer is amazed at the popularity of those wicked people, because many people of God turned away from God's way and followed those wicked men, having seen their prosperity. They began to believe that their utterances are inspired and that their ideas are examples to be emulated. They started, therefore, to drink of the cup of their sins as though it provided thirst-quenching water! Those misled followers shouted, "Is there knowledge in the Most High?" This was definitely a repetition of what other wicked men said, "The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts ... He has said in his heart, 'God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see' ... Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, 'You will not require an account'" (Psalm 10:4,11,13).

3. The believer repeats the explanation of his problem: "Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning" (verses 12-14). In these three verses the psalmist sums up his problem; he says that the wicked are at ease and rich, so what then is the recompense of godliness? His conscience is good, and he has practised all the demands of the Mosaic Law, such as the washing of hands and feet (Exodus 30:17-21), but he only got troubles, persecutions and chastisement every morning for his godliness and purity of heart. He was plagued all day long, although those who break the law "no are they plagued like other men" (verse 5)!

	Third: The Believer Finds a Reassuring Answer

(verses 15-28)

The psalmist did not give in to his own doubts, but wrestled on with his questions. In the sanctuary of the Lord, he found a reassuring answer, after the Lord had revealed to him His good will.

1. He moved on from murmuring to triumph (verses 15-17):

   1. He did not complain to his fellow believers: "If I had said, 'I will speak thus,' behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children" (verse 15). Despite his queries, the psalmist loved the Lord and his fellow believers. Therefore he refused to treat them treacherously by revealing his own doubts to them. He also trusted that the Lord must clear up his grief, so why make known his questions about it? It is true that if he told the people about his questions, he would express himself, be relieved, and, thus, have a little comfort. But this comfort would lead him to join the company of the wicked, and he would be grieved once more when he saw that misleading thinking triumphed and spread out, and gained more following. Those who would follow it will say, "Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?" (Job 21:15). He well knew that the people of the Lord are the children of the Lord, so how could he bring doubt into their hearts? How could he desert their cause, hurt their feelings, and heap stumbling blocks in their path?

   2. He did not deceive himself: "When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me" (verse 16). The psalmist was confused because he could not reconcile God's love, justice and faithfulness to his difficult reality and increasing sufferings. True, he did not want to bother others, but his honesty to himself confused and exhausted him as he mulled over these thoughts in his mind.

   3. He found victory in the presence of God: "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end" (verse 17). The psalmist arrived at the solution and gained victory when he entered the house of God and had a spiritual encounter with God. He realised then that God's promises were true and that the wicked must get the punishment for his evil, which is death. This was the turning point in his attitude. Joseph anticipated our psalmist in solving the problem of his brothers' wickedness. As a child, Joseph was unable to bring his brothers back to their senses, so he carried their news to his father Jacob, who was more able and qualified to impart advice to his children. We can follow the example of Joseph and the psalmist, because we have a heavenly Father to whom we can bring our problems in the place of prayer during out quiet time. It is He then that gives us reassurance and comfort.

2. The psalmist saw the end of the wicked: "Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image" (verses 18-20).

   In the presence of the Lord the psalmist saw the mysteries of God's holy providence, and knew that the end of the wicked is full of perilous slippery places, ruin, destruction and terrible catastrophes that befall them or their followers suddenly. It seems as though God were asleep and left the wicked alone, but woke up to despise them, causing them to discover that they were living a dream and a fantasy. Zophar the Naamathite was correct to say, "The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment ... He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night" (Job 20:5,8). They are like weeds among wheat; the harvest day must come when they are consumed by unquenchable fire (Matthew 13:30).

   At the commencement of his psalm, the psalmist embarked on a dangerous trip in which his feet nearly slipped, because he walked on dangerous ground. But in the house of the Lord, he discovered that he was standing on a rock and came to realise that the wicked will slide down in the abyss. All of a sudden he saw that their prosperity was a dream, and that they were only images that exist today and are immediately destroyed as the sun of truth brings their imaginary existence to an end. Evil cannot prevail, as God said of the wicked, "Their way shall be to them like slippery ways; in the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them; for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment" (Jeremiah 23:12).

3. The psalmist held on to the Lord (verses 21-28):

   1. He confessed to Him: "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You" (verses 21,22). The psalmist was in pain because he was hasty and did not see God's justice and truth until he entered God's sanctuary. Then his conscience convicted him; his heart was grieved, and was vexed in his mind. The psalmist confessed that he was as foolish and ignorant as a beast that does not comprehend. It is the mind actually that sets man apart from the animals, so how could the psalmist miss God's history of tenderness with His people? How could he possibly forget God's good dealings with himself? True, "a senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this" (Psalm 92:6).

   2. He fellowshipped with Him: "Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (verses 23-26). Again the psalmist compares himself to the wicked, saying, "Nevertheless I am continually with You." He resolved to walk with the Lord, and his attitude was "My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me" (Psalm 63:8). He decided to make the law of the Lord a lamp to his feet and a light to his path (Psalm 119:105). He obeyed the Lord's commandments, to be blessed by them both in his present and future. He would be guided by the Lord's counsel here on earth, and enter His glory there, just as "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). How glorious it is for the psalmist to have his hand held by the King of kings, in affirmation of His love and care for him. Through God's fellowship with the psalmist, he recognised that if the Lord who dwells in heaven were his, he would not need anything or anyone on earth, because the Lord is his goodness and the source of his happiness. He says, "You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You" (Psalm 16:2). It did not matter anymore whether the wicked prospered or whether he suffered, because he was in fellowship with the Lord. Although his body and strength grow weak, the Lord would be His strong refuge to protect him from all danger. To this he answers, "He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence; I shall not be moved" (Psalm 62:6). The Lord is his portion forever; none will snatch him away from the Lord, nor the Lord from him. In this way he expresses the fact that he belongs to the Lord as one of the Lord's priests. They had no portion in the Lord, because the Lord was their portion (Deuteronomy 10:9), and what a portion!

   3. He drew closer to Him: "For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works" (verses 27,28). Since God is the source of life, everyone who is far away from Him is dead in trespasses and sins. Since all mankind are God's because He created them, cared for them and redeemed them, everyone who turns away from Him is considered to be disloyal to Him and His kingdom. The Israelites considered themselves "God's bride" because turning away from God is spiritual disloyalty and adultery (Hosea 2:2-4). However, everyone who draws closer to God receives abundant life, because Christ came to give us life, and that more abundantly (John 10:10). Whoever experiences life in Christ does not stop talking about it and telling how much God did for him.

   Let us all enter the sanctuary of the Most High at all times, to find healing answers to our questions, enjoy His tender fellowship, and proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. If any of us is far away from the Lord, let him draw closer to Him in repentance. If any of us is confused, may the Lord reassure his heart.

   May the Lord establish our faith and deepen our hope in Him, no matter how the circumstances may look.

	Questions

1. What is the similarity between Psalm 73 and 37. What is the difference?

2. In verse 15 the psalmist says that he did not share his doubts with his fellow believers. Why not?

Why does Your Anger Smoke?

A Contemplation of Asaph. 1 O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? 2 Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed -- This Mount Zion where You have dwelt. 3 Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. 4 Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; They set up their banners for signs. 5 They seem like men who lift up Axes among the thick trees. 6 And now they break down its carved work, all at once, With axes and hammers. 7 They have set fire to Your sanctuary; They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground. 8 They said in their hearts, "Let us destroy them altogether." They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land. 9 We do not see our signs; There is no longer any prophet; Nor is there any among us who knows how long. 10 O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? 11 Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them. 12 For God is my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13 You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. 14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. 15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up mighty rivers. 16 The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. 17 You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter. 18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, And that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name. 19 Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast! Do not forget the life of Your poor forever. 20 Have respect to the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty. 21 Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise Your name. 22 Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; Remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily. 23 Do not forget the voice of Your enemies; The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.

This psalm is a lament written by Asaph after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon devastated his country, slaughtered many of his people, and left their carcasses to rot in the streets in 586 BC. This made his country the laughing stock of its neighbours. Nebuchadnezzar also pulled down and burnt the temple that Solomon had built, causing worship to stop, as though God rejected His own people (2 Kings 25). The prophet Jeremiah wept over this situation in his lamentations, saying of his country, "Her gates have sunk into the ground; he [the enemy] has destroyed and broken her bars. Her [exiled] king and her princes are among the nations; the Law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the LORD. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground and keep silence; they throw dust on their heads and gird themselves with sackcloth" (Lamentations 2:9,10).

This psalm is a cry from the heart of someone suffering, beseeching God to remember His covenant with His people and show mercy to them. The Israelites used to sing on the days of fasting in which they confessed their sins to the Lord and humbled themselves before Him to restore their temple to its former glory. This psalm and Psalm 79 are very similar in both subject and content. God must have inspired the authors of both psalms to write them for the save painful occasion.

The psalm contains the following:

• First: The Psalmist's Complaint (verses 1-11)

• Second: Past Memories of Mercy (verses 12-17)

• Third: Asking for Deliverance (verses 18-23)

	First: The Psalmist's Complaint

(verses 1-11)

When his sufferings increased, the psalmist turned his questions to God, from a heart that loves God to the God who loves him. Here he recalls Jeremiah's words: "O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction" (Jeremiah 16:19).

1. Asking why: "O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke?" (verse 1a + b). The psalmist begins his complaint by posing two questions to God:

   1. Why have You cast us off: It seemed to the psalmist that God cast His people off forever so that their country became "perpetual desolations" (verse 3) and the enemy reviled God's name "forever" (verse 10). He asks, "Why?" not because he grumbles against God, but because he wants to know in order to change his course and that of his people. The Lord's countenance would then shine upon them with favour "For the Lord will not cast off forever" (Lamentations 3:31).

   2. Why does Your anger smoke? Smoke represents the burning of God's anger. David said of the Lord that in His anger: "Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; coals were kindled by it" (Psalm 18:8).

2. Describing the questioning people: "Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed; this Mount Zion where You have dwelt" (verses 1c,2). The psalmist lists three descriptions of his people that made him raise up these questions.

   1. They are the sheep of the Good Shepherd: "The sheep of Your pasture." The psalmist was encouraged to ask the Lord, because He was his good and faithful Shepherd, who is responsible for him, as the Scriptures say, "So we your people and the sheep of your pasture will give you thanks forever. We will show forth your praise to all generations" (Psalm 79:13). He trusts his shepherd, and often called: "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand" (Psalm 95:6,7).

      Now sheep are known for their weakness, dumbness and aptitude to be led astray. They know how to lose their way, but do not know how come back. Neither can they defend themselves. "The sheep of Your pasture" is an indication of the need for guidance, protection and continual management of affairs on the part of the shepherd who will "will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young" (Isaiah 40:11).

   2. They are the redeemed ones whom He purchased: "Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance." (verse 2a). The psalmist gave himself the right to find refuge with God on the basis of being a member of God's congregation which He has chosen of old, redeemed from the Pharaoh's bondage, set free from the evil torment, and made into the inheritance of the Lord among the nations. The Scriptures say that Moses sang after the exodus, "You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of Your arm they will be as still as a stone, till Your people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over whom You have purchased" (Exodus 15:13,16). Now in the light of New Testament, we realise the full meaning of redemption and purchasing "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:18,19).

   3. They are the ones among whom God dwelt: "This Mount Zion where You have dwelt" (verse 2b). The Lord has shepherded and redeemed His people, and He dwells among them in His holy temple. The place where God dwells cannot, therefore, be desolated forever, just as much as the boat where Christ was could not sink despite the fierce storm that the disciples encountered. All those who obey the command to let "Christ dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:17) cannot sink into the oceans of cares and problems!

3. The motivation to the question (verses 3-9):

   The psalmist lists five reasons for the question:

   1. The enemy has damaged everything: "Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary" (verse 3). The psalmist cried out in such strong expressions, demanding divine intervention to save the nation from the enemy that spread ruin. The wicked assaulted the congregation of believers, defeated them and destroyed everything. They even carried away the vessels of the holy temple and put them in the house of their unclean idol. The temple had become so desolate that it had to be rebuilt. No deliverance could come except from the Lord who must visit His people and fulfil His promise: "Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations ... And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities" (Isaiah 58:12; 61:4).

   2. The enemy had replaced God's signs with his own: "Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; they set up their banners for signs" (verse 4). God's enemies raised their voice like roaring lions in God's meeting place, His sanctuary, where His people come to hear and learn His word. God's meeting place was first called the "tabernacle of meeting" as He said to Moses, "At the door of the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet you to speak with you. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory" (Exodus 29:42,43). But the enemies set up their religious banners above the divine instructions, and made their idols and images signs and gods in the midst of the temple, thus replacing the divine truth with heathenish falsehood.

   3. The enemy destroyed the decoration of the temple: "They seem like men who lift up axes among the thick trees. And now they break down its carved work, all at once, with axes and hammers" (verse 5,6). The enemy destroyed the decoration of the temple, so it was said of Solomon's temple, "The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone to be seen ... Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers" (1 Kings 6:18,29). The enemies brought their unjust axes and hammers and destroyed all that.

   4. They set fire to the temple: "They have set fire to Your sanctuary; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground. They said in their hearts, 'Let us destroy them altogether.' They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land" (verses 7,8). Nebuchadnezzar burnt down the temple, which was the place that God chose for His glory to dwell in (1 Kings 8:11). David said of it, "LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells" (Psalm 26:8). The enemy "burned the house of the LORD and the king's house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around" (2 Kings 25:9,10).

   5. There was no more a preacher: "We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet; nor is there any among us who knows how long" (verse 9). There was no more worship, feasts, observation of the Sabbaths, king or priests to remind the Israelites of the worship of the Lord. The Lord had said to Moses, "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you'" (Exodus 31:13). The psalmist was convinced of the words of the prophet Ezekiel: "Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumour will be upon rumour. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders" (Ezekiel 7:26).

4. The psalmist asks for an explanation and an answer: "O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them" (verses 10,11). In these two verses the psalmist wonders if this miserable state will last forever. And if it will end, when will that be? He demands that the Lord save his people and destroy their enemies, who reviled the Lord's name by their words and insulted Him by their actions, as the king of Assyria said, "As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?" (Isaiah 10:10,11). By these words he equated the idols with the Lord God! It seemed to the psalmist that the Lord was unwilling to rescue His people, as the author of Lamentations said, "He has cut off in fierce anger every horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire devouring all around" (Lamentations 2:3). So the psalmist appealed to God to take out His right hand out of His bosom and stretch it out by his power, as He had already done, making the sea swallow and destroy the Egyptians (Exodus 15:12).

	Second: Past Memories of Mercy

(verses 12-17)

In recalling God's past mercies, the psalmist saw three great things in God:

1. The Lord is the God of salvation: "For God is my King from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; you broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters" (verses 12,13). The psalmist declares that God is still his King, as He was and will be. For God is the fair judge of all the earth, who works salvation and justice, because He says, "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you" (2 Corinthians 6:2). In spite of the painful difficulties the psalmist and his people underwent, he was still aware that "The LORD shall reign forever and ever" (Exodus 15:18). So he said to Him, "You are my King, O God; command victories for Jacob" (Psalm 44:4). He saved His people by bringing them out of Egypt in the presence of all countries and nations, and relieved them of the pain of torment (Psalm 77:14), as much as He worked salvation at Elijah's time by bringing fire down to burn up the sacrifice. At that time the people shouted, "The LORD, He is God!" (1 Kings 18:39). He also worked salvation at Daniel's time when He saved the three young men from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3) and saved Daniel himself from the den of lions (Daniel 6).

   The God of salvation divided the Red Sea by His heavenly power, so that His oppressed people could cross over and Pharaoh and his soldiers would be drowned. The Egyptians were defeated and their bodies floated on the water, "So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore" (Exodus 14:30). The Scriptures call Pharaoh "the reptile", as well as "Leviathan",' and "great monster". Isaiah said, "In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and He will slay the reptile that is in the sea" (Isaiah 27:1). He called upon the arm of God's power, saying, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD! Awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab (Egypt) apart, and wounded the serpent?" (Isaiah 51:9). Ezekiel also said, "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, "My River is my own; I have made it for myself"'" (Ezekiel 29:3).

2. The Lord is the God of providence: "You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up mighty rivers" (verses 14,15). The heads of Pharaoh's soldiers were broken and were dashed to pieces, so that they became food for the beasts of the wilderness, just as God said to Pharaoh, "I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; you shall fall on the open field; you shall not be picked up or gathered. I have given you as food to the beasts of the field and to the birds of the heavens" (Ezekiel 29:5).

   When the people were thirsty the caring God burst springs of water from the rocks of the Sinai Peninsula so that the people could drink for forty years (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8). "And they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out" (Isaiah 48:21). Therefore the psalmist said, "He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths" (Psalm 78:15).

   And when the people needed to cross the water to reach the land which God had promised to them, the Lord dried up the ever-flowing Jordan River "And as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks uring the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho" (Joshua 3:15-16). "For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever" (Joshua 4:23,24).

3. The Lord is the God of creation: "The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter" (verses 16,17). God created day and night on the basis of the earth's rotation around itself when He said, "'Let there be light' and there was light. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night... God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,' and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night" (Genesis 1:5,14-16). God also created the boundaries of the earth and marked off its limits on the day when He divided between the land the water: "Then God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear'" (Genesis 1:9). Based on the earth's rotation around the sun, God created the seasons.

	Third: Asking for Deliverance

(verses 18-23)

1. He asked for deliverance because the enemy had reproached the Lord: "Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name" (verse 18). When the enemy attacks the people of the Lord and gains victory over them, he supposes that his idols are greater than the Lord and that his triumphant attack is a reproach to the God of the defeated people. In such case the enemy is utterly ignorant of the Lord's greatness and the generosity of his loving care to His people. The ignorant said in his heart, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1), and "Many are they who say of me, 'There is no help for him in God.'" (Psalm 3:2).

2. He asked for deliverance because he was innocent and weak: "Oh, do not deliver the life of your turtledove to the wild beast! Do not forget the life of your poor forever" (verse 19). The psalmist compares the people of the Lord with a turtledove that cannot defend itself. A turtledove hurts no one and sings in such a sad tone, while the enemy is a ferocious beast. He also describes himself as a poor man, unable to sustain or guide himself. Unable to defend himself, he turns to the Good Shepherd to remember him in his time of trouble.

3. He asked for deliverance because the Lord has a covenant with His people: "Have respect to the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty. Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise Your name" (verses 20,21). The Lord entered into a covenant with His people so that He would keep them and they would be His own. He said to Noah and His descendants, "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you" (Genesis 9:9), and again "the LORD made a covenant with Abram" (Genesis 15:18). As Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, he sent the young men of the Israelites to slaughter animals for sacrifices. Moses took half of their blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people, took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words" (Exodus 24:4-8). Again God made a covenant with David and said, "I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David" (Psalm 89:3).

   But it seemed to the psalmist that God turned his face away from His covenant with His people, so that the children of Israel were carried away from their land to "the dark places of the earth" in Babylon, where there was dark idol-worship and where injustice dwelt and filled every corner. The people were crushed, shamed, exposed to poverty and reduced to misery. The psalmist reminds the Lord of His covenant with His people, so that the crushed ones should not return ashamed because their prayers have not been answered, but rather sing and praise the Lord who heard their prayers. Then "The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You ... You will cause Your ear to hear, to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may oppress no more" (Psalm 9:9,10; 10:17,18).

4. He asked for deliverance because his cause is the Lord's: "Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily. Do not forget the voice of Your enemies; the tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually" (verses 22,23). This is the last call for deliverance in this psalm. The psalmist was used to asking God to plead his personal cause or that of his people, so he said, "Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!" (Psalm 43:1). But here he demanded God to plead the divine cause against the foolish man who reviled the Creator, the Lord of all the earth. It seemed to the psalmist that God forgot the reproaches of His foes, the voices and tumult of His enemies that rise up in defiance to heaven from ever blaspheming mouths. He waited to hear once more the words that God said to the King of Assyria: "Because your rage against Me and your tumult have come up to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came" (Isaiah 37:29).

The enemy is ignorant of the Lord and the might of His power. The enemy is too strong for the psalmist to confront because the psalmist is like an innocent, defenceless turtledove. Injustice lurked round every dark corner of the earth! But the Lord is the God of justice who must deliver His elect who cry out to Him day and night.

	Questions

1. In verses 1c and 2 the psalmist gives three descriptions of the believers. Write these descriptions.

2. In verses 18-23 the psalmist tells four reasons why the Lord should help him. What are these four reasons?

When I Choose the Proper Time

To the Chief Musician. Set to "Do Not Destroy." A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. 1 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near. 2 "When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly. 3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I set up its pillars firmly. Selah 4 I said to the boastful, 'Do not deal boastfully,' And to the wicked, 'Do not lift up the horn. 5 'Do not lift up your horn on high; Do not speak with a stiff neck.' " 6 For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. 7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another. 8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out; surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down. 9 But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 1 0All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted."

This psalm and the one after it are songs of thanksgiving by Asaph for deliverance. He sang them after God listened to his complaint in Psalm 74. They were sung on occasions of national victory. They are like Psalms 46 and 38, which were sung by the Sons of Korah. God has judged and destroyed the proud enemy, and the psalmist experienced all over again that God was the fair judge who grants victory to His people. He saw that as a fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy: "You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the Mighty One of Israel" (Isaiah 30:29).

We do not know exactly the occasion of writing this psalm; perhaps it was the destruction of the 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who laid siege to Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35). This is an experience that God repeats with His people through the ages.

The psalm contains the following:

• First: The Psalmist Thanks the Lord (verse 1)

• Second: The Lord Answers the Psalmist (verses 2,3)

• Third: The Psalmist Warns His Enemies (verses 4-8)

• Fourth: The Psalmist Glorifies the Lord (verses 9,10)