Hi, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me.”
Today we meditate and pray on Psalm 2, where the nations have gone wild. It starts:
Why do the nations rage
and the people plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers gather together
Against the Lord and against his anointed, saying
“Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
In Psalm 1, an individual was the focus, choosing to be a chaff person or a tree person. In Psalm 2, the whole world comes into view. The nations and their leaders say, “God means nothing to us. He has no claim on the kingdoms of the world. He has nothing useful to say about civil rights or human rights or terrorism or war. We are on our own in the world, we’ll look after ourselves.”
- North Korea’s Kim-jong Un says, “I’ll play with nukes to scare the big boys into cooperation.”
- Vladimir Putin says, “A military adventure abroad will distract them from troubles at home.”
- The Taliban say, “More car bombs in Kabul will drive the foreigners away.”
- Bashar Al-assad of Syria says, “It took seven years of war, half a million dead, a few million refugees, and some chemical weapons, but with a little help from my friends, I’m still in charge.”
- Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia says, “My war is destroying Yemen, we’ve killed a journalist or two, but women drivers are now permitted in Saudi Arabia. Clearly, I am making progress.”
- Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu walks softly, but carries a big stick when dealing with Palestine.
- President Donald Trump of the United States says, “You’re fired!”
But God refuses to be fired. Psalm 2 says that God laughs at the world leaders, and says, “I have installed my king in Zion, my holy mountain.”
And God says to his son,
“Ask me and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
You will break them with a rod of iron
and dash them to pieces like pottery.”
Let’s pray. Our Father, perhaps the anarchists are right. Perhaps the only way to fix the broken politics of this world is to smash them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like pottery. You promise your son, who we know as Jesus, that you will give him the nations as his inheritance to rule or to destroy as he wishes.
Somewhere behind the politics of this world, somewhere beyond the posturing of the leaders, somewhere far from their self-promotion and bravado and violence; somewhere unseen in the confusion of the nations — Jesus your son is waiting, building his kingdom of righteousness, training his soldiers of truth and peace. As the psalm says, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Our Father, this is our prayer today . . . that we will not live in fear or awe of the kings of this world, but that we will find in King Jesus a refuge for our lives, and that in him, you will bring the day when he will depose all earthly kings and establish his reign forever.
Amen.
I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.
Pray with Me 