Psalm Chapter 68: 1-6 Will you be the person of faith who protects their family from desolation?

Psalm Chapter 68 KJV Verses 1-6 (Unless otherwise stated all scriptures in this devotional are from the King James Version of the Bible-which is public domain!)

Context

The setting conjures a context of warfare and thanksgiving. The identification of the Almighty as Israel’s warrior king is unmistakable. The best approach to the reading of this psalm it to create subheadings as it unfolds.

Lord scatter my enemies.

1 Let God (Elohim) arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. David refers to the words of Num. 10:35 “And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” The call for God to arise shows that this is a “Warrior-King-The Almighty King of King” song. “The term “rise” is frequent in Scripture (Deut. 33:26; Pss 18:9; 104:3b– 4; Isa. 19:1; Nah. 1:3). God is a Warrior for the vulnerable, in particular, orphans, widows, the lonely 28 and prisoners (Exod. 22:22– 24; Ps. 146:6– 9).

²As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.Revelation 9:2 talks about the final end of wicked people, “And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” This is not a metaphor. It is a fact. When God says he will do something. he will do it. The wick will not be in his presence forever. Eternal separation from God is the worse kind of punishment that a human being could receive. The abhorent wickednes that we see on the earth today will not be able to stand before Christ. At his return, they will call to the rocks and mountains to hide them from him.

³But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.

The righteous are those who are in right standing with God. When Christ rises and returns to this earth it will bring overwhelming joy to those who are in right standing with Him. 1 Peter 1:5-9 reminds us that “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:” “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” “Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls.” Rejoice now, saints, your time of overwelming joy is ahead!

⁴Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him. “YAH” is a shortened version of the divine name of God “Yahweh “(translated “I AM” as in Exodus 3:14-15. Other names for God used in this psalm are: God (Elohim, verse 1), Lord (Adonai, verse 11), Almighty (verse 14), Lord God (verse 18), God the Lord (verse 20), and King (verse 24).

⁵A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God presents Himself as a Father because of who he is and what he does for his children.Our earthly fathers may have treated us badly, but God’s word planted the of who he is to us in in our hearts. Maslow identified the needs of human beings in his hierachy of needs.

From https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Each of these psychological terms an be boiled down to the need to be loved, cherished, protected, and valued. Jesus taught His followers to address God as Father (Luke 11:2). Scripture supports the argument that God describes His love for us as that of a caring parent (John 16:26–27; 2 Corinthians 6:18). Although He possesses characteristics of both father and mother (Isaiah 66:13), He chooses the masculine word because it also denotes his characteristics of strength, protection, and provision (Psalm 54:4). Our hope in Christ gives us access to God the Father.

⁶God setteth the solitary in families:God protects the single individual in afamily who trusts and believes in him. Their belief sometimes protects the rest of their family. he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: The emotional, physical, and psychological chains that bind people are not too tight for God to loose. When he looses them the individuals are free indeed. However, look at what happens to the rebellious and stubborn non-believers in a family without a single person who trusts in God. but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.