Theological Commentary: Click Here
At first
blush, the psalms for today seem dichotomous.
In Psalm 7, we talk about the Lord and His wrath. The psalmist encourages the wrath of the Lord
to come forth upon those who are pursuing Him.
He reminds us that those who do not repent will fell the sword of the
Lord. The wicked will fall into a pit
that the Lord has prepared for them. The
point of the psalm is that the Lord is a righteous judge and will bring peace
to those who are in God and judgment against those who are not.
Psalm 8 is
entirely different is tone. Psalm 8 is
all about the glory of the Lord and His creative spirit. God has made the universe. He hung the stars and the moon. He has put
splendor in its place. Yet, God has been
mindful of humankind and has lifted us above creation. He has voluntarily lifted us up to be just
short of His own splendor and glory. He
has done this for our sake and through His great love.
These psalms
seem to be different in tone. One is
about wrath and judgment. A second is
about God’s splendor and righteousness.
How are these two things related?
Psalm 9
helps us see how these can be two sides of the same coin. It is because of God’s righteousness that he
can be a judge. It is because of His
glory that He can rule supreme. Because
of His great strength He can be the protection and avenger of the oppressed.
So often we
want to separate God’s love and His wrath.
We want to separate God’s ability to judge and His ability to
protect. These things are inseparable,
though. God’s wrath comes out when God’s
love is unfulfilled. God has the
strength to protect the oppressed because He has the strength to judge. One of the nice aspects about the psalms is
that we can see multiple perspectives on God in proximity to others and help us
see the fullness of God’s being instead of just focusing on the parts that we
want to see.
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