In the Psalm Sunday series that Erica at Butterfly Kisses started, we are looking at Psalm 2 and 110 together this week.

Psalm 2:

1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Psalm 110

1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

I won’t go verse by verse and be as in-depth with these Psalms as I was with Psalm 1, partly because I am not as familiar with them as I am with Psalm 1, and partly because that would make this post much too long. There are a number of good commentaries that would go into much more detail much better than I could do, so I will leave that to them and just give a couple of impressions or thoughts after reading these two Psalms.

Overall these psalms don’t give us the warm fuzzies, do they? Sometimes we come to the Psalms for that, for encouragement and comfort, and there is certainly plenty of that in them. But there is this aspect, too. God is holy and righteous and as such is perfectly just to be angry because of sin, to be angry that people want to throw off His rulership.

I used to think that good Christians did not, or should not, get angry. But, really, the Bible doesn’t teach that. There are a lot of warnings about anger, but Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” There are many passages about God’s just and righteous anger. Our problem is that we’re angry over selfish reasons and not reasons based on God’s righteousness, or if we are angry over the right things for the right reasons, our anger can too often be mixed with pride or self-righteousness, or be expressed in a carnal way.

It might seem hard to reconcile God’s love with God’s anger. But, really, if we think about it, we get angry when those we love are rebellious and make foolish choices. In fact, if we didn’t love them, we wouldn’t care, would we? Even though God is angry when people rebel against Him and choose to go a way that will cause harm to themselves and to others, He has done everything in His power, sending His own Son to take on their sin and punishment, so they can be redeemed.

Another thing I get out of this passage is that, though the “heathen rage” and though we do see people these days wanting to “break His bands asunder,” they can only go so far. As one hymn says, “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”

And both of these Psalms point to the coming Christ. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.