Our God Reigns

Psalm 93:3

The sovereignty of God is not a challenge for Christians to affirm when all is well.

You think about the history of Israel. From the call of Abraham in Genesis 12 through the birth of Jesus, you’ve got about two thousand years of history. They’re sojourners for a while. They put down roots in Egypt—started well but mostly horrific. God rescued them through Moses, and they wandered through the desert and tested God’s patience for forty years before finally moving into the promised land. That led to the period of the judges, which was one of the worst eras in all of Old Testament history. Then Saul takes the throne, becoming Israel’s first king. The monarchy period is off to a bumpy start. David takes the throne and rules for forty years! David’s son Solomon takes the throne, builds the temple, and rules for forty years! That was the golden age of Old Testament history. Hope you didn’t blink. Everything unravels after Solomon. The kingdom is divided. The northern kingdom is eventually conquered by Assyria—terrible. The southern kingdom lasts a little longer but is conquered by Babylon—absolutely horrific. Then come a series of occupations: after Babylon it’s Persia, then Greece, then Rome. This is the history of God’s Old Testament people. Two thousand years of embattled history: sin and suffering. Eighty years of relative peace (also lots of sin). Which is to say, these people knew the sound of the floods lifting up their voice (v. 3). They were all too familiar with this sound. No wonder so much of the Psalter is lamentation songs.

There are a hundred modern equivalents. There are probably people reading this right now who could cry at the drop of a hat, life is so overwhelming for them.

I went to the bank recently to help get our son set up with online banking. A professional woman called us over, and we sat down. She was wonderfully friendly. We made some small talk while she looked everything up. She saw evidence that we had lived in New Orleans, and so she told us a story about almost moving there, but, the story went, she ended up getting engaged to a guy here. In passing she mentioned a health issue, then said, “Well, I’m rambling. You’re here to get a checking account.”

My oldest son said, “No, it’s a great story. Tell us more.”

She continued and had to stop five seconds later. She turned her face, apologized, and flapped an envelope in front of her eyes. She took us through her cancer diagnosis and how the doctor, lacking gentleness, said, “This could be a situation where we would,” and she quoted him exactly at this point, “just try to keep you comfortable.” And she said, “I didn’t hear anything after that.”

This was the eye-opening thing—to realize I walk past people like that every day. To realize afresh that my church is full of people having similar experiences. People who could cry at the drop of a hat. An unsuspecting stranger says, “Tell me more,” and they fall apart right there in front of you.

Have you heard the floods lifting up their voice? Are you hearing the floods even now? Loneliness. Infertility. The stubborn darkness of depression. The doctors say to someone you love, “There’s nothing more we can do.” An adult child won’t go into the same room with you. It’s official, you’re going to lose the house. The floods have lifted up their voice. One of the primary reasons we sing and preach the sovereignty of God is because no truth settles a heart in turmoil more than the truth that “the Lord reigns.”

Yes, the floods are noisy and tumultuous, but that is not the last word of this psalm. It began with hope, and it will end with hope!

The Lord Is Mightier

Psalm 93:4-5

The whole psalm now comes into view for us. The Lord reigns, the floods roar, but the Lord is “greater” (v. 4). And the assurance we have that God will still the waves that are too strong for us is the knowledge that his “testimonies are completely reliable” (v. 5).

Let me say something about the structure and arrangement of the book of Psalms. The psalms are arranged in five collections—if you will, five mini-hymnals. They are not arranged chronologically. See, for example, Psalm 90 is written by Moses. No, they are arranged to tell a story.

The organization of the Psalter reminds us not only of the law of Moses but of a pilgrimage through which God is taking his people. The Psalter helps to tell the story of a journey from suffering to glory and from lament to praise. One statistical detail tells the tale: in Books One through Three (Psalms 1–89), so-called “laments” outnumber “hymns” of praise by a little more than two-to-one, while in Books Four and Five (Psalms 90–150), the proportion is reversed, and actually amplified—here “hymns” of praise outnumber “laments” seven to three. (Kidd, With One Voice, 29)

God is unfolding a story for his people—a story that moves from the wreckage of the fall to the restoration of creation. What begins in anguish ends in Psalm 150 where we break out the trumpets and tambourines, and everything that has breath praises the Lord. We’re right here toward the beginning of Book IV (Pss 90–106). There’s no question about the capacity of God in Psalm 93. The Lord reigns. We know he can quiet the waves, but how? How will he deliver us from the troubles that vex us in this life? Even more significantly, how will he save us from our most fearsome enemies, the loudest floodwaters: death and the righteous judgment of God against our many sins? The answer has everything to do with the reliability of God’s promises (v. 5).

Psalm 93 leverages comfort in two ways. Be comforted, people of God, because God is sovereign (vv. 1-4). And be comforted because God will keep his promise (v. 5). God had made promises to his people about a King, a Son of David, who would sit on an eternal throne. He would usher in a reign of righteousness, peace, and joy. He would conquer the enemies they could not conquer. The people would live in God’s place under his rule and blessing forever.

Book III (Pss 73–89) ended with a reminder of the promises God made about this Son of David. Psalm 89:19-25 tells about God being with his chosen one, an exalted warrior, and about his power over the sea. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, arrives, and the disciples realize he is no ordinary man. He is God in the flesh. At one point they are in a boat, being thrashed by the waves (literal waves!), having a near-death experience, and Jesus quiets the waves of the sea with a word (Mark 4:35-41). If they had eyes to see it, the great story peeked through for just a moment. God’s reliable promise. He said he would send a Son of David who would still the raging sea, and that one is here.

Jesus goes to the cross and dies in our place, and rises again, conquering our most fearsome enemies: sin, death, and Satan. Everyone who looks to Jesus Christ for refuge, for salvation, is secure forever. He promises to come again and make everything right—all the floodwaters of life in a broken, cursed, and fallen world.

The challenge of Psalm 93 is that two things are set side by side. The throne and the sea—the throne representing God’s sovereignty, the sea representing evil powers too strong for us to control. Both the throne and the sea appear again, together, in Revelation 4:5-6, but the sea doesn’t sound like Psalm 93 anymore: “Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne.”

What happened? In Revelation 4 we see the final realization and fulfillment of the promise at the end of Psalms Book III. We see Jesus, the Son of David, set his mighty right hand on the sea, and there he stills it forever. No more foaming waves lifting up their voices. No, he wipes away all tears and stills every wave. “The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this” (Isa 9:7).

In this way our passage tells the story of the world. God will bring his people into his place under his rule and blessing. God has promised this, and his promises are reliable. God can make good on his promises because he is the Lord, and the Lord reigns!

Reflect and Discuss