THE APPOINTED TIME

The message of this psalm is that God is Sovereign in His own world. It celebrates the righteous judgment of God; it speaks of a great act of judgment by which God has condemned the proud pretensions of some boastful enemy, vv. 4, 5. The people address God with thanksgiving for the recent manifestation of His power on their behalf. The voice of God Himself from heaven is heard declaring His righteousness, v. 2, announcing to the world that He is not regardless of wrong and suffering. He only waits for the moment which is best according to His infinite wisdom, so that He might punish the wrongdoers.

The phrase “When I shall receive the congregation” is better read as “when I reach the appointed time”. The “appointed time” is the proper moment foreordained in the divine counsel and known to God. The same word, indicating a “set time”, is found in Psalm 102. 13, where the psalmist looks ahead for the appointed time of deliverance for Zion. It is also found in Habakkuk 2. 3, where the vision given to the prophet was for a set time. This scripture is taken up in Hebrews 10. 37, where we read of the promise of the certainty of the Lord’s coming, “he that shall come will come, and will not tarry”. Gabriel used the same words when he spoke to Daniel of the Medo-Persian and Grecian empires, and beyond of the rise of a sinister individual who will stand up against “the Prince of princes”, Dan. 8. 19, 25. The same words are used again in the context of the end times, 11. 27, 35.

The picture which comes through is of a God who is in control, and who had appointed the events of history and prophesy according to His foreordained plan. So always, at a fitting moment, God intervenes. There may be times when the pillars and framework of life appear shaken, and when stable situations disappear, but God assures His people that He maintains the order that He has established in the world, v. 3, though all may seem to be confusion. God is ever the righteous Judge who acts, not according to man’s impatient expectations, but at the moment chosen. He can afford to wait, but His seeming delays should not cause saints to despair or sinners to presume. Sometimes His delay may seem hard on the righteous and favourable to wickedness, but in truth it never is.