Today’s passage: Psalm 75
Helpful thoughts:
- “Your name is near” is an acknowledgement of God’s presence. Even when it looks or feels like God is not in control, He absolutely is.
- The idea of “lifting up your horn” is that of expressing majesty or strength. For man to “lift up his horn” before God is to think too highly of himself and too lowly of God. It would be a form of self-exaltation. Thus the idea of a “stiff neck” in verse 5.
- The cup of verse 8 is a cup of judgment.
- When nations are strong, it is God’s doing. When nations dissolve, it is God’s doing.
- Verse 7 – He puts down one, and lifts up (exalting) the other.
Questions to consider:
- When do we tend to feel like God is absent or not in control? Is there ever a time when God is not accomplishing anything? What is God’s goal for you in every circumstance (Romans 8:28-29)?
- What did the psalmist choose to do in the midst of the troubling time as he awaited God’s intended results? (Verses 1 & 9) What should all of the trouble in the world point us toward? What does it give the church an occasion to declare?
- Why can we even look forward to God’s justice without fear? What “cup” did Jesus drink on our behalf? (Matthew 26:39) Why will our “horns be lifted up”?