THE LORD REIGNETH

There are few sights as awesome as the pounding of a rocky coast by the fierce waves of the sea during a storm. With destructive violence and deafening noise, the fearsome waves relentlessly expend their fury. The onlooker is most thankful to be beyond their reach. Yet the rock remains unmoved.

God is a rock, as both Moses and David testify, while the wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest, Isa. 57. 20.

This psalm presents a picture of the forces of evil which challenge the throne of God, and challenge it in vain. It begins with “The Lord reigneth”, and continues, “the floods have lifted up their voice … The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea”. It is a comfort to know that the throne of God is unmoved; but it is better still to be assured that the Creator is positively mightier than all who may presume to challenge His supreme authority. Surely, “happy is that people, whose God is the Lord (the Eternal)”, Psa. 144. 15.

He rules and overrules to make all things work together for good for those who love Him. We see this in the life of Jacob’s son, Joseph, hated by his brothers, sold as a slave, outrageously maligned and unjustly imprisoned, but becoming the saviour of his family and of the land of Egypt. God’s overruling is just as real when it is less obvious.

The three Psalms 93, 97 and 99, which begin with “The Lord reigneth”, all end in speaking of His holiness. He is not only exalted above all gods, 97. 9. He is absolutely distinct from His creation, set apart and untainted by defilement. When Isaiah saw Jehovah “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up”, Isa. 6. 1, he saw the seraphim ceaselessly voicing God’s praise, crying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord (Jehovah) of hosts”, v. 3. They are themselves holy beings, literally “burning ones” like our God who is a consuming fire; but each covers his face with two wings as unable to look on the glory, and covers his feet as unworthy to be seen. So each had two wings to fly at the bidding of the King of kings.

Isaiah “saw his glory, and spake of him”, John 12. 41.