Year 5, Day 213: Psalms 75-76

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

These two psalms are psalms that we can easily place in the category of king.  Both of these psalms deals with God, His power, His omnipotence, and His authority.  As the psalmist speaks in the midst of Psalm 76, who can stand before Him?  That question asserts the fact that God is superior to all else.

With respect to Psalm 75, the focus of God as king is on judgment.  It is indeed God who will judge the nations.  He will set apart the righteous from the wicked.  He will give life to the righteous and He will give His cup of wrath to the wicked – which they will drink to the dregs!  God is the one who sits over us in judgment.  Surely He is king!

With respect to Psalm 76, the focus of God as king is on His power.  How many times alone in this psalm does the psalmist remind us that He is to be feared?  He is the one that set up the Hebrew people in Canaan.  At God’s rebuke the unrighteous are stripped and the righteous are lifted up.  I long for the day when God is not just king in the hearts of people scattered over the globe but king in an eternal kingdom with all of His people gathered around Him.

As a side-note, I love the expression “drink to the dregs” as an expression of humanity and God’s wrath.  I think it fits perfectly for the behavior I often see around me.  When people get into trouble, most people try to use some other deceptive method to get out of the trouble rather than fess up, take the consequences, and move on.  Usually when we try and cover up one mistake with more deception we just dig the hole deeper.  As we dig the hole deeper, we just take the consequences and make them worse and worse.  I think this is absolutely related to “drinking the dregs” with respect to the cup of God’s wrath.  We as human beings just don’t know when to stop! 

<><