Читать книгу Reflections on the Psalms - Steven Croft - Страница 13

Why are the nations in tumult,and why do the peoples devise a vain plot?

‘Let us break their bonds asunder’ (v.3)

Many people will hear the stern voice of the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah when reading this opening verse. ‘Why do the nations so furiously rage together?’ he sings. Pilgrims would gather in Jerusalem for the new-year festival and this psalm was spot on with its theme of the kingdom of God as a new king was crowned or an established king renewed in office.

So why do the nations still conspire and plot against the peaceful way of the Lord, or in the old words ‘so furiously rage together’? Good question. The nations still believe what the rebellious choir in the Messiah sings, that they can burst asunder the bonds of the Lord and his anointed (v.3). We never learn. Even as I write this, there are over thirty wars still raging, often forgotten, in different parts of the globe.

There’s a dark part of us that would still rather like an autocratic Lord to break the warlike nations with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel (v.9). Life would be so much simpler if the baddies were always baddies and the goodies were always like me. But the biblical story leads us to another kingdom where the King rules from a tree. He does indeed destroy evil but he does it only with the weapon of love.

Dare we follow this ‘road less travelled’ today?

Reflection by John Pritchard

Refrain:

The Lord is the strength of his people,

a safe refuge for his anointed.

Prayer:

Most high and holy God,

lift our eyes to your Son

enthroned on Calvary;

and as we behold his meekness,

shatter our earthly pride;

for he is Lord for ever and ever.