Psalm 76

All of scripture was written in the context of life as it was unfolding, in what we call today “real-time.” The writers were not isolated away from the fray. The writers were not looking back and writing from hind-sight. The people of God, whose real life experiences are the basis for scripture, lived in very violent times. Appreciation of the sanctity of life has developed only in recent times and is far from being wide-spread. In the psalmist’s world, differences between people and nations were settled with violence. Psalm 76 was written to celebrate a victory.

The attacks against Israel were not only fought to gain the land, they were fought to destroy Israel’s God. The psalmist presents the anger and wrath of God against God’s enemies. We don’t like to think about God’s wrath and anger. We’d rather focus on God’s love, patience, mercy and forgiveness. However, we need to realize that the way God’s enemies strike at God is to strike against God’s people. If God did not respond in anger against those who do violence to His people, God would not be moral and just.

Psalm 76 is ultimately fulfilled in the Cross, where Jesus, equipped with God’s anger and wrath, took on the forces of evil:

“For God in all his fullness

    was pleased to live in Christ,

 and through him God reconciled

    everything to himself.

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth

    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”

Colossians 1: 19-20

I do not believe we can fully appreciate Jesus’ victory over evil until we accept that the evil within us was included in the victory of Jesus:

“This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Colossians 1: 21-22

Thanks be to God!

Sē’lah

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What word or phrase in today’s reading of the Psalms

 attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

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Reading for July 17, 2012          Psalm 77