Surrounded by praise … in a battle
Psalm 149
1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.2 O Israel, rejoice in your Maker.
O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King.
3 Praise his name with dancing,
accompanied by tambourine and harp.
4 For the Lord delights in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them.
Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.6 Let the praises of God be in their mouths,
and a sharp sword in their hands—
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with shackles
and their leaders with iron chains,
9 to execute the judgment written against them.
This is the glorious privilege of his faithful ones.Praise the Lord!
I love the beginning of this psalm. And then I come to sharp swords and vengeance in verse 6.
It’s not certain when this psalm was written. It might have been in the time of Nehemiah, when they did everything with a sharp sword in one hand for fear of attack. It may have been after one of David’s victories. Whatever it was, God was there in their struggles, and praise came before and after.
It reminds me that I’m in a battle too. It’s not a physical battle (I’m very grateful, God). It’s a spiritual battle (Ephesian 6:10-17). I need to be equipped not only with my sharp sword (of the Spirit), but with the whole armour of God. It is my glorious privilege (verse 9) to take my place in that battle and to stand firm.
This psalm reminds me how important praise is in that battle. Praise for what God has already done, but also, in faith, proclaiming the victories He will win. Praise especially in the middle of the battle. Like Jehoshaphat’s army marching out with the Levites in the lead singing praise (and their enemies defeating themselves at the sound of it) in 2 Chronicles 20:1-29. Praise proclaims God’s victory to a world that does not want to submit to it.
Praise the Lord!
(Sadly, the second half has been used to justify all sorts of things from the 30 Years War (1618-48) which killed between 3 and 12 million people through to crusades and peasant revolts. But the Bible is clear: judgement belongs to God (James 4:22), and all Christians have been given the mission to tell all who will listen about God’s plan to rescue them from sin and judgement (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). My task is reconciliation, not revenge.)
Written by David Cornell