Psalm 59:8-13 “But you, LORD, laugh at them. You scoff at all the nations. Oh, my Strength, I watch for you, for God is my high tower. My God will go before me with his loving kindness. God will let me look at my enemies in triumph. Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter. Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah.”

What a name for God – my Strength! It is because of His loving kindness that He watches over His people. Here David doesn’t seem quite so bloodthirsty, but I guess that depends on your perspective. He doesn’t want his enemies killed, just scattered. He wants them to be a living reminder of the power of God and the fact that evil doesn’t pay. Of course, that will end up prolonging their suffering too! David wants them so subdued that they can’t bother him or the nation anymore. God is the only one who can do this. He is both David’s and our Strength and Shield!

There are Messianic overtones to this passage. God’s ultimate triumph over the nations will come though His anointed one, the coming Messiah.

Psalm 2:4-8 “He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath: ‘Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.’ I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.’ “

For additional worship: Thou Oh Lord (Ruppe Sisters)