Summon your power, God!
It’s easy to blame God for allowing evil to ravage our world. But David tells us he’s come to live among his people, is powerful, and has determined to bless the weak and set the world to rights.
For the worship leader. A David psalm, a song.
1 Let God rise up
and his enemies be scattered!
May those who hate him flee before him.
2 Let them be blown away
like a puff of smoke.
May evildoers perish before God
like wax before a flame
3 while those who put their trust in God
rejoice and exult before him
overcome with joy.
4 Sing to God
make music to his name.
Raise a song to Cloud Rider
whose name is YHWH.
5 A father to the fatherless
and a defender of widows
is the God whose house is holy.
6 God provides homes for the homeless
and releases prisoners to joyful freedom
while those who rebel against him
live in a burnt-out land.
7 When you led your people out
marching through the wilderness, God Selah
8 the earth shook
and the heavens poured
before you, the God of Sinai
before God, the God of Israel!
9 You sent a generous downpour, God
to revive your weary land.
10 When your people settled in the land, God
in your goodness
you provided for the poor.
11 The Lord gave the word
and a huge company of women spread the news:
12 “Kings and their armies are fleeing headlong
while the women at home divide the spoils!”
13 Even you who sleep out among the sheepfolds
shimmer like the silver-tipped wings of a dove
its feathers glistening with gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered the kings in battle
snow fell on Mount Umbrage.
15 What a majestic multi-peaked mountain
Mount Bashan is!
16 Why, multi-peaked mountain
do you envy the mountain God chose for his home
where YHWH will live forever?
17 With myriads and myriads of chariots
the Lord came up from Sinai into his sanctuary.
18 You ascended its heights
leading captives in parade, YHWH God
and receiving tribute from people—
even from the rebellious.
19 Blessed be YHWH
who bears our burdens day after day
the God who saves us! Selah
20 Our God is a God who delivers—
Sovereign YHWH delivers us from death.
21 Yes, God will crush his enemies’ skulls
the hairy heads
of those who swagger in their guilt.
22 YHWH says:
“I’ll bring your enemies back from Bashan
and drag them up from the depths of the sea
23 so your feet can tramp through their blood
and your dogs lap up their share too.”
24 People saw your triumphal procession, God
the procession of my God and king
into the sanctuary.
25 The singers came first
the musicians in the back
young women playing tambourines in between:
26 “Bless God in the great congregation
YHWH, Israel’s fountain!”
27 Little Benjamin is leading out front
with the princes of Judah in company
followed by Zebulun and Naphtali’s princes.
28 Summon your power, God—
the power you’ve exerted
on our behalf before, God!
29 Earth’s kings bring their tribute
to your temple in Jerusalem.
30 Rebuke the wild beasts lurking in the reeds
the herd of bulls
bellowing among the calves of the nations!
Trample down those who lust after booty
and scatter the nations that delight in war!
31 Envoys will make their way from Egypt
and Nubians stream toward God
with hands outstretched.
32 Sing to God, earth’s kingdoms!
Sing praise to the Lord. Selah
33 To him who rides
through the heavens’ ancient heights.
Hear the deafening sound of him
thundering across the sky!
34 Ascribe power to God
who reigns in majesty over Israel
and reveals his power in the clouds.
35 God is awesome in his sanctuary
the God of Israel
who gives strength and power to his people.
Blessed be God!
David presents Israel’s story in terms of God’s leading her in his victory march from Egypt to Zion. Since David’s fellow Israelites know the component stories so well, he gives just highlights, with a movie trailer’s style and speed. This makes the psalm a fun, albeit challenging read. David has YHWH’s superiority over Baal in mind throughout, calling YHWH “Cloud Rider,” a Canaanite title for Baal, whose chariot supposedly thundered across the clouds en route to battle.
David mentions some of God’s victories over those who tried to keep Israel from reaching Canaan, where God was finally enthroned in Zion. David humorously personifies towering Mount Bashan, Baal’s alleged home, furious because YHWH had overlooked it to make Mount Zion—a mere fraction of Bashan’s height—his home instead. David effectively says, “Eat your heart out, Bashan! God really did choose squat, little Zion, over you!”
David says God will bring the Israel’s enemies back from Bashan and from the depths of the sea so the Israelites can tramp through their blood. Referring to enemies northeast and southwest of Israel hellbent on destroying her, he means them and everyone else. Despite their steely determination, all who stand against God’s people will be crushed in keeping with Gen. 3:15.
David asks YHWH to subdue Israel’s enemies, pictured as cunning crocodiles and bellowing bulls, alluding again to Egypt and Bashan. And God always blesses the overlooked: the homeless, fatherless, widows. Balancing Deborah’s negative reference to shepherds who didn’t join the fight (Jdg. 5:16), even the shepherds who slept with their sheep glitter with silver and gold. This likely refers to the family of Jael, the woman who crushed the Canaanite commander’s head as he slept in her tent.
Why is God’s taking up residence in Jerusalem such a big deal? Because he’s redeeming our undeserving race, releasing the oppressed from their burdens, ridding our world of evil and war, and enacting justice for all.[1] Thus, we ask him to finish his great redemptive work, and we resist evil, longing for that glorious day when all earth’s peoples bow before him.
Prayer:
Thank you, Jesus, that on the cross, your love crushed your enemies’ hate. You ascended Zion’s hill and disarmed the powers of evil to bless the weak, bear my burdens daily, and ultimately judge the earth and fill it with your glory. May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
In your free moments today, meditate on these words:
Blessed be YHWH
who bears our burdens day after day
the God who saves us!
[1] David’s chiasm puts the emphasis on God’s saving actions both daily and when facing death: A: Praise the God who rides through the heavens (vv. 1-6), B: God rescues and judges (vv. 7-14), C: Zion’s God dominates Bashan (vv. 15-17), D: God leads captives in parade (v. 18), E: GOD RESCUES US DAILY (v. 19), E: GOD RESCUES US FROM DEATH (v. 20), D: God crushes his enemy (v. 21), C: Zion’s God dominates Bashan (vv. 22-24), B: God rescues and judges (vv. 25-31), A: Praise the God who rides through the heavens (vv. 32-35).
