The Mighty Scepter
Opening Prayer
Loving God, I thank You for being a merciful Father and a just Judge. Help me to understand You more deeply today.
Read Psalm 110
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
1 The Lord says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”
2 The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
3 Your troops will be willing
on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
your young men will come to you
like dew from the morning’s womb.
4 The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
7 He will drink from a brook along the way,
and so he will lift his head high.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How comfortable are you reading about God crushing his enemies? Why do you react like you do?As a child I was impressed with the power of God. I loved to read about the creation, Jesus walking on water and calming the storm, Elijah calling down fire from heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
In Psalm 110, David prophesies about the Messiah, as Jesus makes clear (Matt. 22:44). He looks forward to the day when God will defeat his enemies once and for all. David was a warrior king; perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the image he uses for this victory is a human battlefield: troops ready to die for their commander (3), the bodies of the dead piled up high (6).
Often people shy away from the “spirit of hatred which strikes us… like the heat from a furnace” (C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms) in some of the psalms. Yet which of us can truthfully say we don’t feel these emotions too—even those of us who have never faced the fierce heat of battle?
Ultimately, such psalms remind us that God’s “mighty scepter” will one day rule supreme, that in Jesus all God’s enemies—including death itself—lie crushed and defeated. That power, which raised Jesus from the dead, is given to all who believe (Eph. 1:19,20).
Apply
What enemies are you facing right now? Are you able to stand firm against them, in God’s strength?
Closing prayer
Ask God to help you find victory in your life today. How would you picture victory in your life?
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