resulting? What genuine good could you imagine resulting, perhaps indirectly? Ask God to inspire all people to seek the will of God in all things.
Now, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
This is very much a song of its own particular age and society. It is full of self-confidence and a sense of unquestioned self-superiority. We are in the presence of a ruler sitting on his throne. Reports have been brought to him telling of restlessness among those whom he and his country have conquered. These oppressed people see a chance to break free.
“How perfectly ridiculous,” our ruler seems to say. “Don’t they realize that God is on my side?” “The Lord has them in derision … He speaks to them in his wrath … I myself have set my king upon my holy hill in Zion.” The sense of superiority goes further as our ruler professes to hear God say, “I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.”
How are we to incorporate this psalm into contemporary society and worship? We are certainly not prepared to affirm the arrogant claims it makes. In this century we have sent armies into battle against such claims. Can we find a warning here?
Perhaps any society that has achieved a measure of empire fails to see when its own policies and actions, begun and carried out with the best of intentions, change into oppression; when certain people are regarded as enemies and subversives if they ask for nothing more than their freedom, whether in political or economic terms.
If we are prepared to sing this psalm in these terms and with this application, then it speaks to us clearly and directly in its last verses. “Be wise, be warned, you rulers of the earth. Submit to the Lord.” These words are addressed to all who hold power of any kind. And they are being warned not to make the mistake of seeing themselves as the repository of power.
All seeming authority and power derive from the ultimate source of authority and power—whom the psalmist names “the Lord.” In this way the psalm can be ours to sing, and its warning ours to heed.
Recall a time when you may have been oppressed by power and authority. Consider someone you know who is oppressed by power and authority. Ask God to show them a way through their suffering and to soften the hearts of their oppressors.
You, O Lord, are a shield about me;
you are my glory, the one who lifts up my head.
There is no gradual introduction, no soothing reassurance before we are exposed to the first piercing cry. “Lord, how many adversaries I have!” Suddenly we are in the company of someone who is coming apart in front of us. The terrifying realization has just hit home that there are enemies everywhere, far too many to be dealt with. We hear of “multitudes of people who set themselves against me all around.”
As we listen, we realize that this person is on the verge of paranoia. “How many there are who say of me, ‘there is no help for him in his God.’” There are voices whispering, sniggering, jeering, taunting, suggesting that all options have run out, that there are no longer any resources available.
Moments such as this reveal for all of us the presence or absence of inner resources. One of the greatest gifts of the Book of Psalms may be that it takes us to such moments of human experience again and again. The psalmist fully shares a sense of desperation, a feeling of not being able to cope. Nothing is held back. As readers, we are allowed into the inner sanctum of a life. We watch someone’s agony.
But we also watch as recovery begins, and it comes with the realization of the grace of God. “You, O Lord, are a shield about me … I wake … because the Lord sustains me. I do not fear.” This realization turns into an almost savage energy. “Strike all my enemies across the face … break the teeth of the wicked.” Hearing this may at first appall us. Nowadays we tend not to allow ourselves so free an expression of deep resentment.
Even though the psalms speak to us from a culture that routinely indulges in extreme language, nevertheless we are being pointed to a fundamental truth. To possess a stubborn conviction that God is faithful in every circumstance can make all the difference between personal disintegration and recovery.
The timeless message of this song comes to us strong and clear in its last verse. “Deliverance belongs to the Lord.”
Consider a serious frustration in your life. Ask God to show you a way through your trouble. Consider someone you know who is suffering a serious frustration in their life. Ask God to be with them and to show them a way through their suffering.
Many are saying, Oh, that we might see better times!”…
You have put gladness in my heart
more than when grain and wine and oil increase.
These days we tend to dialogue a great deal with ourselves— questioning, examining, analyzing, blaming, agonizing. For the psalmist it is more natural to dialogue with God. So when he feels “hard-pressed,” and cries out for mercy and for his prayer to be heard, it is the voice of God that responds.
Obviously God is feeling a little out of patience, not only with the psalmist, but with human nature in general! “How long will you worship dumb idols and run after false gods?” God seems to be suggesting that this particular mortal has his values confused, perhaps putting too much emphasis on material things.
The psalmist’s response is a hasty and nervous compliment paid to this obviously disgruntled deity. “The Lord does wonders for the faithful.” To which God offers a very tart, if not threatening, response. “Tremble then, and do not sin,” and suggests that the psalmist go away and do some hard thinking about his conduct. “Speak to your heart in silence upon your bed.” By this time we see a rather chastened supplicant.
The psalmist’s thinking now takes another direction. “Many are saying, Oh, that we might see better times!’” This plea expresses a very understandable and contemporary longing that echoes in almost every corner of our own society. So we need to take note of the psalmist’s approach. It begins with a short prayer. “Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord.” This leads to a complete change of tone and attitude, as if the very act of turning to God becomes itself a source of hope and new life.
There is also the realization that what the psalmist really needs is not more material things, but the grace that comes from the presence and power of God to uplift, encourage, and transform. Not only does he cry out, “You have put gladness in my heart,” but, as if surprised at his own discovery, he adds “[this gladness] is more than when grain and wine and oil increase.”
Perhaps we are being told something that can be expressed in a slight adaptation of a well-known phrase used in political commentary. We often hear or read the trenchant remark, “Its the economy, stupid.” It would seem that this psalm is suggesting the very opposite: “It’s not the economy, stupid.” Beyond economic problems, important
