Christ Above the Chaos

Reflections on Psalm 2

King David wrote a lot of the Psalms.

But how did he do that?

Let me imagine it. I can see him in his quarters when he is burdened by the complexities of life around him. Tired and spent, I can see him pick up his harp. A soft prayer on his lips, he soon begins to play. The first soothing tones fill the room, truly music between two hearts.

His heart wells with love for God, and he simply pours out his heart in song. Perhaps he did not write anything down beforehand. Rather, he jumps into the river of living waters and lets the current carry him along.

Of course, this is only my imagination. I will never know, at least not until I get to ask him in Heaven. But let’s assume for a moment that this is how he wrote his psalms.

After all, where did he get those prophetic words? To me, that feels like pure inspiration. He sang about things that had not even happened yet.

Take Psalm 2, for example. It begins with:

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

     This opening line could have come from David’s indignation at people who were indifferent to the God he loved so much. I can sympathize. Isn’t that how we all feel sometimes when we hear the news, read about sin, or have to endure the rants of unbelief? But then, already in the second line, I begin to read with deep wonder.

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying… 

The kings of the earth?

He was a king himself, and he deeply loved God. How could David have known the counsels of earthly rulers?
And who was the Anointed One he was singing about? For me, as a Christian, it seems obvious that he was talking about the Son of God, the Anointed King who was living with the Father in heaven.
And then David gives voice to the words of those unbelieving people who claim to have found a better way. Words they loudly proclaim even today:

Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

     What bands and cords is he singing about? To my limited understanding, they can be no other than the bands and cords of love that tie us to our Creator. Perhaps those bands and cords are the very boundaries meant to keep mankind from falling into darkness. Bands and cords of love, given to us in love, but not always appreciated by sinful man.
But breaking those bands is not likely to help. Attempting to cast God down from His throne so we can go our own way, will only end in misery. It is a futile attempt. God is God. The very idea that fallen men could overthrow His rule is simply preposterous.
David seems to agree, as he immediately responds with a mighty crescendo of glory:

 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

Oh my… God laughing? That sounds serious. I would be concerned if God were up in heaven laughing at me in my silly efforts to make myself God. Honestly, whatever grand ideas I may have about myself, in the end I always end up in a fix. I struggle to handle even the simplest things.
And so does everyone else, for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
The next verse tells us:

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

     This part of the song may well bring tears to my eyes. Who would want to experience God’s wrath? Who can even fathom what it means to have the King of Creation looking down at you in displeasure?
Perhaps you object that it could not possibly be that bad. After all, the Bible teaches that God is love. “Surely the Almighty, if He even exists, wouldn’t hurt people, would He?”
Yes, the Bible does teach us that God is love. But it’s my understanding that He is so much more too. He is also completely just; completely righteous.
How can He put up with wickedness and sin? Jesus died on the tree to bear the punishment our sin deserved. But what happens if we turn our backs on Him?
No, there is a King, and it’s not a powerful human one.
David sings about Him in the next verse.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

Here is the King who rules the world, and He rules it from His holy hill. David knew his God. He knew the Scriptures and the promises, and he sang about that wonderful place, the house of God on the holy hill of Zion.
To me, it is the most beautiful place imaginable, where my thirst is quenched with the water of life and my hunger is satisfied with eternal bread. Communion with the King under the shadow of His wings. What better place could there be?

I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

The only begotten Son who always was, always is, and always will be.
As the writer of Hebrews wrote: “[the Son] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
And David kept on singing:

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

     Prophecy is so amazing.
Imagine David singing these things while playing his harp. He uttered words about things he would not see in his lifetime. He used words filled with eternal power, revealing mysteries far greater than he could fully comprehend. He composed songs that have stayed with us for thousands of years.
I, unlike King David, am no prophet. When I sing, I sing about God’s goodness to me, my longings, and perhaps my trials. But David must have entered a completely different realm when he sang his Psalms.
And, as every good story does, this song ends with hope, as God always ends with hope. He knows we are sinful beings. He doesn’t simply leave us under judgment because of our sin. He will forgive us if we come to Him.

 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Let us kiss the Son, for if we don’t live in awe before Him and refuse to kiss Him there is a price to pay, a price no reasonable human being would ever wish to pay.
Again, I don’t quite know how David composed his Psalms, and yes, I will ask him in Heaven. But for now, I will meditate upon these deep words that teach my wandering feet where to walk through the lonely fields of this present earth.
Will you walk with me?

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