Monday 8th February 2021
WHY DO THE NATIONS RAGE?
Scripture Reading: Psalm 2
Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? Psalm 2:1
Psalm two is a royal and Messianic Psalm. The setting of the Psalm is at the coronation of God’s anointed king in the face of hostility from opposers. In the New Testament, this Psalm is used in reference to the kingly authority of Jesus Christ.
The Psalm opens with two questions. The first is, ‘why do the nations rage?’, and the second, ‘why are the people plotting a vain thing’?
Both questions address the anger and rebellion of those who hate what the Lord is doing for someone. Because it is a Messianic Psalm, it points to Christ. But it goes beyond Christ to the Church and then the Christian.
We can refer this Psalm to three kinds of people:
- Those who oppose Christ. These include spiritual powers and their earthly collaborators.
- Those who oppose the Church. These include both governmental and non-governmental power systems
- Those who oppose the Christian. These include unbelievers and immature believers.
Our world has a way of producing people who just can’t stand it when God blesses someone else. There are those who feel so offended by God’s favour on another that they plot all kinds of schemes to disrupt what the Lord is doing.
The passage refers to those in rage as ‘the nations’; other translations use the word ‘heathen’. In the Old Testament, the heathen referred to the nations that did not know the Lord God as their God.
They worshipped other gods and opposed anything that the Lord God did. Today, some people continue to fight the works of the Lord God.
Do you feel the fury of people against you? Is there someone or a group of people who hate you with a passion? Then this is your Psalm.
Are you so angry against and can’t handle the fact that others are doing well? Is there a person whose name makes everything in you boil with anger? Then this Psalm is for you too.
God says the plot of those who rage is in vain. It is useless.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that you make the plot of the violent useless. You are the rock of my defense. In Jesus’ name, Amen.