Psalm 2

Here's something interesting: Psalm 2, only 12 verses long, has four voices speaking in it. Maybe you knew that already. The picture has to do with verse 4: He who sits in the heavens laughs.

David narrates this psalm, so we have his voice throughout. Then the kings of the earth (and the rest of us) say this against God and his Anointed One: Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. That's when God laughs. Because we love to think we're in control. We love to think that when we build something, we are really amazing. We love to think that we can handle things without a creator of any kind. So God laughs. And then he speaks: As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.

Whoa, I can hear the kings sneering, so what? And then said King speaks of the inheritance he has as the Son of the Most High God, the rod of iron he will break the nations with, the dashing to pieces of his enemies.

David again: Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. We are wont to say: Well, I guess he told them! That'll teach 'em.

But we, too, are to kiss the Son, to fall at his feet in smallness, to bow at his throne. For we are the rulers that sneer, and take counsel against God, and try to break out of our boundaries. Daily we take the reins and do it our own way just because we want to.

I have a daughter who is famous for saying, "I'll do what I want!" But I am that daughter to my heavenly Father. Daily I take my stand against his will for me in a dozen ways. Maybe more. So I too must kiss the Son, my Savior, and hand over the reins. Psalm 2 reminds me finally, Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Amen, and amen.