Psalm 94 Part 2

Vs4-7 declares that in ignorance and arrogance, the wicked speak defiantly, boast in themselves, act against God’s people, and attack the weak and vulnerable.The logic of v9 is simple and solid. The God who created the ear can hear, and the God who created the eye can see. He even knows our thoughts (v11). The God of all wisdom and knowledge will eventually hold men and women to account for their lives. The Apostle Paul must have loved this psalm. He quoted v11 in 1Cor3:20, speaking of God’s triumph over the exaltation of defiant human wisdom and knowledge, and in Rom1:21 he spoke of the futility of man’s thinking towards God.

A blessing on the righteous follows with a wonderful promise of rest/relief to those who receive the teaching from God’s Word. (v12-13) Another promise follows in v15 which Paul comments on in Rom2:6-10.After having expressed satisfaction in God’s ultimate righteous judgment, now the psalmist acknowledges that this hoped-for day is not yet. He understands and expresses his own limitations in dealing with ‘evildoers’ and ‘wickedness’.The loneliness and rhetorical question of v16 is felt by Paul in Nero’s dungeon when he wrote 2Tim4:16-17. Paul knew the Lord was his strength in times of darkness.

For the psalmist, God’s ‘lovingkindness’ would sustain him in the difficult day; even when it seemed that his ‘foot had slipped’, and our hearts are filled with multiplying anxious thoughts (v19). When we are tormented with cares and fears about our future state, we are not abandoned (v14) we will be upheld.Though the godless who were set against the psalmist were in high places, devising laws that are against God (v20), we have an even greater defence. God Himself is ‘the rock of our refuge.’ This is the poet’s personal testimony.

The repetition of ‘destroy them’ gives great emphasis to the idea of finality. It also matches the repetition of “vengeance” (justice) in the first verse of this psalm. The psalm begins with trusting God to set things right and ends with the same confidence. If things do not seem right in your life at this moment, trust God with the final outcome.