Psalm Meditation 860
Third Sunday of Advent
December 11, 2016

Psalm 110
1 The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes.
3 Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you.
4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses;
he will shatter heads over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.
(NRSV)

As with many peoples of the biblical time and place God and king were so intimately tied together as to be one. If the king goes out at God’s direction he will be victorious beyond the skill and numbers of the army itself. In fact, if the king goes out as the agent of God the people of the army will go to battle willing to sacrifice their lives for God and king. God directs the battle and fights in it to assure that our side wins so decisively that there will be no question as to who is the winner and who is the loser.

These days the commanders of armies no longer go out into the battle, and rulers of nations do not go out onto the battlefield. Skilled strategists direct the action from a distance and rulers make decisions from places other than the heat of battle. Going to battle led by a king or other ruler is a foreign concept to us, making this psalm a difficult one to connect with. It is easy to believe that God is as distant from our day to day battles as commanders and rulers are from war zones and battlegrounds.

However, God is with us. In the heat of our daily battles, in the joy of our daily victories, and in the give and take of a normal day. No matter what we face in a given moment of a day we have the psalmist’s assurance that God is present with us. When things are going well, God is there. When things are going badly, God is there. When things are going as we expect a normal day to progress, God is there. God may or may not be the direct cause of the events of the day, however God is with us.

December 5, 2016
LCM