Psalm 75:1-10 (ESV)
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy.
A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds.
[2] “At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
[3] When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
[4] I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
[5] do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with haughty neck.’ ”
[6] For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
[7] but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
[8] For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.
[9] But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
[10] All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
Psalm 75 begins with a note of praise and then, beginning in verse 2 and continuing through to the end of verse 5, God responds. There are three things that God says that He does in the world. In verse 2 He judges with equity. In verse 3 He keeps the planet from falling apart when its foundations are shaken and in verse 4 He calls on the boastful not to boast.
What a striking contrast. It makes one wonder which is the more laborious, keeping the earth on its moorings or making people humble. The human heart is a cesspool of self exaltation and it will not be cured without a powerful work of God.
For God to keep the natural disasters from destroying the planet, all it takes is muscle. To get a human being to stop being boastful and live in a state of humility it takes God the Son becoming a human being, living here in the midst of temptation and in weakness, enduring the punishment for sin that His people deserved, rising from the dead and then sitting at the right hand of the Father in order to constantly act as our Mediator, pleading the merits of His death for us (Hebrews 7:24-25).
He commanded that we stop boasting and then He came and did what it took to enable us to obey the command. It is a great and powerful work. It puts the ability to stop the earth from shaking, to shame.
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