Year 5, Day 220: Psalms 81-82

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.

Each of these two psalms today give us an interesting possibility for conversation.  Psalm 81 could easily be a psalm that talks about appetite or ambition.  After all, isn’t the whole psalm essentially about how God desires to be our God but we instead choose our own way and lust after our own desires?  For that matter, Psalm 81 could be a great psalm in which we can wrap around a conversation about forgiveness.

So why instead did I choose the topic of King?  I think at its core Psalm 81 is a psalm about the omnipotence of God.  He is the one who relieves our burden when we need Him to – whether we deserve it or not.  We call out in our distress – usually when we get ourselves into trouble – and He saves us.  If you read Psalm 81:8, you can hear the words of the king of the universe calling out to us and begging and pleading with us to embrace His words and His ways.  Psalm 81 is a psalm about His kingship.  It is a psalm about our rebellion and how we run away from Him when we truly should be running towards Him.  But that doesn’t change the fact that He is still king.

When we look at Psalm 82, we can see that the concept of King fits this psalm really well, too.  Psalm 82 is a psalm about God’s ability to rescue the weak, needy, oppressed, downtrodden, orphan, and widow.  Who else but the king of the universe could be the true and worthwhile deliverer of those who need deliverance from the world?  Who else can show us that we can indeed put the oppression of the world behind us except the king of the universe?  Who is it that can look upon the world and speak about its lack of wisdom and understanding except the one who has all true wisdom and understanding?

Indeed, God is king of the universe.  He delivers us.  He saves us.  He is better than anything this world has to offer.  We may occasionally walk away from Him and His ways in our rebellion.  But He is still King of the universe even when we should choose sin.

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