Walking through the Psalms (2)
Psalm 2 (reaction)
I really wasn't ready for the tone and topic of the second Psalm. It's interesting, how true it is, that it is not only the individual man that tries to throw off the "chains" and "fetters" of God. It is also nations and rulers. This is such a crazy accurate judgement of the governments of mankind, communism and socialism especially (Marx was a Satanist and if you look into it the truth will creep you out, it's just plain scary what that man's goals really were)...
Rarely do I hear God, Jesus talked about as King of Kings. Yes, it's in scripture and I'll hear it every once and a while, but if you really stop and think about what that means. King. of. Kings. That should scare you. God is perfectly powerful. Balanced and measured in his portions of justice, mercy and wrath ...on a scale we seem instinctively unwilling to understand. When we rail against the supposed oppression of an allegedly cruel and unjust God, we not only demonstrate our ignorance, we also cast our defiance at God and tell Him that He does not deserve His Throne. A Throne that exists not to give God power, but to serve as the manifestation of that very power.
Like the quote about America being a sleeping dragon that Japan awoke with it's attack on Pearl Harbor, God's mercy and grace are bountifully sufficient for us, but He is a just God, and His wrath is a very real and terrible thing. No, I can't say that I know where the line between His mercy and His wrath lies. But I can say that almost everyone of us lacks the appropriate amount of fearful respectful proportionate to God's mighty power. In the first chapter of Romans it talks about how God is giving some over to the sinful desires of their hearts. That is a truly scary thing, even more so that there are many who wouldn't see anything wrong with that. God is going to just let me do whatever I want? Awesome! To me it sounds like a death knell, an awful cry in the middle of night as someone dies.
Unlike man, who's power is obtained by God (prophetic or physical) or his fellow man (political/economic) granting him power, God IS his own power. By his very nature is God Omniscient, Omnipresent, all-powerful. God's power does not originate from outside of his nature. And that contrast alone should terrify man and his poor shadow of his own gifted power, which is irrelevant in the face of death. As Ecclesiastes says, "meaningless, meaningless...everything is utterly meaningless!"
This leads me to Ephesians chapter 5. It says other things, but the main point that I took away from it in the moment that I read it (thank the Lord for His Living Word!), is that we should stand in awe of the Lord. We should let our words be few and be still (in body and spirit) in His Presence. How often do we simply dwell in the presence of the Lord, sitting still and saying nothing? I don't do it, and the idea seems suddenly appealing compared to my small attempts to pray, thinking that perhaps I must always be saying something, or thinking something, in order for me to be praying. God is the only satisfaction, everything else apart from God is meaningless. By loving God first we can be glad and be satisfied in things other than Him, but only because we don't put our desire for satisfaction in anything less than him. I constantly struggle with feeling a weird sort of bitter discontent, and I have been learning more and more about how it stems directly from my own seeking for satisfaction in the lesser (the world) and not the greater (God).
Going back to Psalm 2. It isn't simply about nations and peoples and kings opposing God and God subduing them. God created this world and mankind to serve a very specific purpose, to be in right relationship with Him. Those nations and peoples and kings, in opposing God, CANNOT win. Just as Satan never had a chance at victory, so do those of us who rebel against the Lord have no chance at defeating Him. It is His nature, unbeatable.
The second part of Psalm 2 (verses 7-9) seem to be God talking to David, but for some reason I just cannot get the image of God talking to Jesus immediately following his baptism. Jesus could have ruled the world if he had so desired and I don't see how it could have be wrong for him to do so. It was within his power and his right. But he didn't. Instead of elevating himself to the highest, his right place, he became the lowest, in order that he might fight the true enemy, even beyond Satan, who was ever a slave, a tool, a personification of rebellion and hatred and Godlessness (I do believe that Satan exists, is real...but he often gets more credit than he deserves and less caution than he warrants).
By the end of the psalm I'm left again with the distinct impression of Jesus. The admonition, the warning to the kings of the earth to be wise and to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoice with trembling is followed by "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your own way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are those who take refuge in Him." (Psalm 2:12).
While God should inspire a trembling, fearful respect of Him, we should also see that He has declared himself for us, and not against us. It is we who, in our rebellion, have declared ourselves against Him. But He forgives us. He calls out to us. He is our refuge, our strong tower...
I really wasn't ready for the tone and topic of the second Psalm. It's interesting, how true it is, that it is not only the individual man that tries to throw off the "chains" and "fetters" of God. It is also nations and rulers. This is such a crazy accurate judgement of the governments of mankind, communism and socialism especially (Marx was a Satanist and if you look into it the truth will creep you out, it's just plain scary what that man's goals really were)...
Rarely do I hear God, Jesus talked about as King of Kings. Yes, it's in scripture and I'll hear it every once and a while, but if you really stop and think about what that means. King. of. Kings. That should scare you. God is perfectly powerful. Balanced and measured in his portions of justice, mercy and wrath ...on a scale we seem instinctively unwilling to understand. When we rail against the supposed oppression of an allegedly cruel and unjust God, we not only demonstrate our ignorance, we also cast our defiance at God and tell Him that He does not deserve His Throne. A Throne that exists not to give God power, but to serve as the manifestation of that very power.
Like the quote about America being a sleeping dragon that Japan awoke with it's attack on Pearl Harbor, God's mercy and grace are bountifully sufficient for us, but He is a just God, and His wrath is a very real and terrible thing. No, I can't say that I know where the line between His mercy and His wrath lies. But I can say that almost everyone of us lacks the appropriate amount of fearful respectful proportionate to God's mighty power. In the first chapter of Romans it talks about how God is giving some over to the sinful desires of their hearts. That is a truly scary thing, even more so that there are many who wouldn't see anything wrong with that. God is going to just let me do whatever I want? Awesome! To me it sounds like a death knell, an awful cry in the middle of night as someone dies.
Unlike man, who's power is obtained by God (prophetic or physical) or his fellow man (political/economic) granting him power, God IS his own power. By his very nature is God Omniscient, Omnipresent, all-powerful. God's power does not originate from outside of his nature. And that contrast alone should terrify man and his poor shadow of his own gifted power, which is irrelevant in the face of death. As Ecclesiastes says, "meaningless, meaningless...everything is utterly meaningless!"
This leads me to Ephesians chapter 5. It says other things, but the main point that I took away from it in the moment that I read it (thank the Lord for His Living Word!), is that we should stand in awe of the Lord. We should let our words be few and be still (in body and spirit) in His Presence. How often do we simply dwell in the presence of the Lord, sitting still and saying nothing? I don't do it, and the idea seems suddenly appealing compared to my small attempts to pray, thinking that perhaps I must always be saying something, or thinking something, in order for me to be praying. God is the only satisfaction, everything else apart from God is meaningless. By loving God first we can be glad and be satisfied in things other than Him, but only because we don't put our desire for satisfaction in anything less than him. I constantly struggle with feeling a weird sort of bitter discontent, and I have been learning more and more about how it stems directly from my own seeking for satisfaction in the lesser (the world) and not the greater (God).
Going back to Psalm 2. It isn't simply about nations and peoples and kings opposing God and God subduing them. God created this world and mankind to serve a very specific purpose, to be in right relationship with Him. Those nations and peoples and kings, in opposing God, CANNOT win. Just as Satan never had a chance at victory, so do those of us who rebel against the Lord have no chance at defeating Him. It is His nature, unbeatable.
The second part of Psalm 2 (verses 7-9) seem to be God talking to David, but for some reason I just cannot get the image of God talking to Jesus immediately following his baptism. Jesus could have ruled the world if he had so desired and I don't see how it could have be wrong for him to do so. It was within his power and his right. But he didn't. Instead of elevating himself to the highest, his right place, he became the lowest, in order that he might fight the true enemy, even beyond Satan, who was ever a slave, a tool, a personification of rebellion and hatred and Godlessness (I do believe that Satan exists, is real...but he often gets more credit than he deserves and less caution than he warrants).
By the end of the psalm I'm left again with the distinct impression of Jesus. The admonition, the warning to the kings of the earth to be wise and to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoice with trembling is followed by "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your own way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are those who take refuge in Him." (Psalm 2:12).
While God should inspire a trembling, fearful respect of Him, we should also see that He has declared himself for us, and not against us. It is we who, in our rebellion, have declared ourselves against Him. But He forgives us. He calls out to us. He is our refuge, our strong tower...
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