RULE OF FAITH

This royal psalm, a song about kingship, began long before the time of Jesus. The kings of Israel, says the psalm, depend on the Lord. All that they have and are—position and power, joy and success, health and wealth—is a gift of God’s grace. From the opening to the closing of the psalm, and surely too from beginning to end of the king’s reign, “your strength, Lord” (1,13) is the baseline of praise and the bedrock of power. “You” says the poet, in line after line (1–6), returning praise for all that God has given.

Then in verses 8–12 the focus changes. We hear of the noise of battle and of enemies who stumble and shrink from a crushing and mighty victor—but who is “you” in this part of the psalm? Is it the king of Israel? Is the message that he will win his battles, because he trusts in the Lord? Or does “you” mean the Lord himself? In that case the point would be that the enemies of heaven will never truly flourish. As surely as God’s anointed kings prosper by faith, so God’s foes perish in the midst of their schemes and plots.

Many Christians have sensed that this psalm points towards something deeper than human politics and warfare. To be sure, godly rulers are generally good rulers—and often successful—and the Lord worked through Israel’s ancient kings in some distinctive and powerful ways. However, Scripture speaks also of a greater and more faithful king, who embodies God’s living presence in the life of earth—God’s promised anointed one, Israel’s hoped-for Messiah, Jesus Christ. In him we see God’s strength, rule, judgment and love. This is the King above all kings, for the world to trust, honor and praise.

In situations of hope and of threat, how do you draw on God’s strength?