Psalm 76

Psalm 76

The Greatness of God

This Psalm reminds us

that

God fights for his people

A Psalm of Asaph

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Verses 1 - 2

In Judah
God is known;
His name is great in Israel.

² In Salem also is His tabernacle,
And His dwelling place in Zion.

Note:

Salem is Jerusalem.

This psalm is reminding us that God is known

by the Jews.

They know

his Words,

his ways,

his victories on their behalf,

and his commands for obedience.

Benson Commentary says:

In Judah is God known —
God’s people do not worship an unknown God, as the Athenians did,
Acts 17:23, but one who hath made himself known,
not only by his word and ordinances,
but also by the glorious effects of his wisdom and power,
exerted on their behalf, and against their potent and malicious enemies.

His name is great in Israel —

That is, famous and renowned, and greatly to be praised and admired.

God revealed himself to 

Moses and the people of Israel.

Psalm 103:7

says,

He [God] made known His ways to Moses,

His acts to the children of Israel.

Recently I was pondering

Psalm 103:7.

I realize that...

God made known his ways and acts

because he wanted

to be known.

He desires relationship.

-

Think about that.

We all are aware that

God wants obedience.

God knows we NEED to be obedient in order to have a

better life now and a much better eternity.

Understanding obedience -  in detail -  is a vital part of

God's Words

to us.

I speak about that often on this site.

But

God wants

more than

obedience.

He

wants

fellowship.

And he actually

wants

more than fellowship.

He

wants

intimacy.

God wants a

close relationship

with each person he created.

In the time of Moses,

God chose a group of people

to begin the revealing of himself. 

And because he revealed himself to Moses

and the Hebrews

and because

Moses wrote those revelations down...

today

we can know God.

It is not just the Hebrews / Jews

that God wants a

relationship with.

He wants a relationship with all people.

We see in

Psalm 117

that God wants a

relationship with

all the people of the world.

He calls out to all people to know him and praise him.

1.

God has given revelations by sharing his Words
to those
who were told to write them down.

We read those words and grow closer to God.

2.

And

God also gives us insights about him
as we walk with him daily
and
seek to follow his Words. 

If you want to know

how people

who haven't heard of God

get to heaven...

Click Psalm 19 and scroll down.

God revealed that he wasn't just interested in picking a

people at random

and then fighting for them.

His desire

was to help a people

who would respect him and his Word.

When the Jews turned their back on God,

he did not help them with their battles.

See our Psalm 137 page.

 

Verse 3

There He broke the arrows of the bow,
The shield and sword of battle.

Selah

(Selah means pause and think about it.)

God battles on behalf of his people.

~

In thinking about Isaiah 54:17....

We could translate Isaiah 54:17a as

"No weapon formed against
those who trust God
will prosper."

It even says in Isaiah 54:17 b

"This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord."

The NLT version of  Psalm 76 verse 3 says...

"There he has broken the fiery arrows of the enemy,
    the shields and swords and weapons of war.
Interlude"

The arrows we face today

are usually not from humans.

BUT

we read in

Ephesians 6:16

that the demonic forces shoot fiery arrows toward us.

In Ephesians 6,

God tells us to pick up the

Shield of Faith

that he gives us to stop the demonic arrows.

God is

All - Powerful! 

He can stop any weapon.

He can stop any enemy.

That is bad news for God's enemies,

and

good news for his friends.

Verse 4

You are more glorious and excellent

than the mountains of prey.

Scholars differ on the definition of

Mountains of Prey.

Here are some of their thoughts.

Some say the phrase refers to - 

invaders or their strongholds.

Others say the phrase refers to - 

the mountains where robbers hide.

Others say the phrase refers to -

Great Victorious Nations like Assyria.

Others say that the phrase is -

highlighting the

tyranny and oppression of certain nations -

the nations that are maintained by

preying on others.

For this verse,

I will add a praise to God ..

There are many wondrous mountains in the

Holy Land. 

But no mountain is as glorious and excellent

as the Lord God Almighty.

Verse 5-6

⁵ The stouthearted were plundered;

They have sunk into their sleep;
And none of the mighty men have found the use of their hands.

⁶ At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

Both the chariot and horse

were cast into a dead sleep.

Stouthearted = mighty

These were confident, mighty men.

God prevailed and

everything was taken from these

mighty warriors.

Ellicott's Commentary for Christian Readers says

"These mighty men were rendered powerless by a word or even a glance from God."

sleep = death

Their trained hands were empty

of the spoils of war and now useless to them.

Verse 7

⁷ You, Yourself, [God]

 are to be feared;

And who may stand in Your presence

when once You are angry?

Answer:

No One 

Verses 8-9

⁸ You caused judgment to be heard from heaven;
The earth feared and was still,
⁹ When God arose to judgment,
To deliver all the oppressed of the earth. Selah

God delivered his people.

God brought them an Amazing Victory. 

The Lord executes righteousness

And justice for all who are oppressed.

Psalm 103:6 NKJV

The other enemies of God

heard about the victories in verses 6-7

and they feared

to come against God and his people. 

 

This psalm is speaking about past military victories.

Today we read verse 9

and realize that

one day all rebellion against God will end.

One day,

Jesus will come to earth as the Lion of Judah.

He will deliver

all the oppressed people

who love God

and then

the judgment of God will begin on the earth.

See our page on end times.

Verse 10

¹⁰ Surely the wrath of man shall praise You;

With the remainder of wrath You shall gird Yourself.

This is a difficult verse to translate

from the Hebrew language.

Translators differ

as to whether this is saying that

God will make the wrath of man praise God,

or if it is really saying that

God's wrath will praise God.

Concerning this verse,

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says,

" Man's wrath praises God by its futility before His power."

A key idea

to remember is

that God's justice is right and good.

Note that

the justice of God

is a foundation of our world. 

Psalm 89:14 NKJV says -

Righteousness and

justice

are the foundation of Your throne;

Mercy and truth go before Your face.

Some people cringe

when they hear about the wrath of God.

Some people,

have to grow and experience and learn certain things

from God

before

they can accept and value

the wrath of God.

Verse 11

 Make vows to the Lord your God, and pay them;

Let all who are around Him bring presents

to Him who ought to be feared.

Ecclesiastes 5:4 NIV

When you make a promise to God,

don’t delay in following through,

for God takes no pleasure in fools.

Keep all the promises you make to him.

I had a friend years ago say to me that
she had made a vow to God
to
join the choir.
And then
she changed her mind and didn't want to do it.

She wanted to know
if I thought she had to join the choir. 

Christians often make

a hasty vow to God

and then

never fulfill the vow.

This verse plainly says,

"Do what you say you will do."

Of course,

if you realize that

what you vowed is not a

wise thing to do,

then ask the Lord

to forgive you and your vow

and attempt to be more careful with your words.

God wants us to be

serious

about making a vow.

Many times

the

best advice would be

to avoid

making a vow. 

As far as marriage vows -

it is important to make marriage vows.

It is important to be serious about marriage.

Picking out a godly mate and getting married

is a godly activity. 

Living together without marriage is a sin.

Living together is about

following the world and its ways

instead of

following God and his ways. 

A righteous person

rules over his body.

He lets

God's Word rule

over him.

Romans 12:1 says

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies

a living and holy sacrifice,

acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual service of worship.

Also

Psalm 24:1

If you are living together without marriage -

Stop immediately.

Repent to God for your sin.

Move out immediately.

Stay pure.

Evaluate wisely if you should marry this person.

Consider our pages on choosing a mate.

If you two do want to get married...

Stay pure until your wedding night.

Too many parents

ignore their adult children's sinful behavior.

They do not

pray for their adult children

to repent and draw close to God. 

Prayer for your child

and gentle conversation with your child

is usually

the best idea for most situations with an adult child.

There are

some adult children

who would explode and abandon a parent

for saying such things.

That is a tough call.

But note that it is always a good decision to pray.

Verse 12

 He shall cut off the spirit of princes;

He is awesome to the kings of the earth.

The NLT translates this verse:

For he breaks the pride of princes,  

 and the kings of the earth fear him.

~ ~ ~

All the leaders of the world are nothing compared to God.

And take note:

Leaders who are wise

see God as

AWESOME

and

AMAZING

and

Worthy to be Obeyed. 

Praise God for His

Amazing Grace

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