Psalms 75:1 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, the psalmist gives God the praise for his rise to honor and power, and for the other great things God had done for him and for Israel. “We give thanks to you, O God,” he says, for all the kindness you have shown us, and he repeats it, because thankfulness should be expressed again and again. If we often prayed for mercy while we were seeking it, should we think one or two thanks are enough after we receive it?

He speaks not only for himself, but for himself and his friends together. If we share in other people’s blessings, we should join them in praising God. God is the giver of mercies, and we must not give to the means what belongs to him alone. “Your name is near,” he says, meaning that the full keeping of God’s promise to David is close, and “your wonderful works declare it,” because God had already done great things for him.

We see three things here. First, God does many works for his people that truly deserve to be called wondrous works, things beyond the usual course of providence and beyond what we expected. Second, these works show that God is near, ready to answer and to do more for his people in line with his promise. Third, when God’s wondrous works show that his name is near, our duty is to thank him, again and again.

The psalmist also places himself under an obligation to use power well, because a great trust had been given to him. “When I receive the assembly, I will judge uprightly,” he says. He assumes that God will, in time, bring about what concerns him, even though the people were slow to gather to him and strong opposition was being made. What God has spoken in his holiness, he will carry out by his wisdom and power.

Because he expects mercy, he promises to do his duty. When he becomes a judge, he will judge, and judge honestly. He will not act like those before him, who either ignored justice or twisted it. Those who are raised to places of honor must remember that these are places of service. They should apply themselves with care to the work they are called to do. Public trusts must be handled with strict honesty, and judges must judge uprightly, according to justice, without favoring one person over another.

He also expects his government to be a public blessing for Israel. The nation was in a bad state. “The earth and all its people are dissolved,” he says, because the former reign had been so corrupt that everything was falling apart. There was general moral decay because the laws were not enforced against evil and ungodliness. The people were split apart and divided into factions, with one group against another, and this was heading toward ruin. Yet he says, “I bear up its pillars.”

Even in Saul’s time, David did what he could for the good of the people. But he hoped that once he had received the assembly, he would do much more. He would not only prevent public ruin, but also restore the nation’s strength and beauty. This shows the harm of parties and divisions, which can melt down a land and its people. It also shows how much one good leader can hold together. The whole structure would have fallen if David had not supported its pillars.

This can also point to Christ and his rule. The world and everyone in it were ruined by sin, and human rebellion threatened the destruction of all creation. But Christ upheld the pillars. He saved the world from total ruin by saving his people from their sins. The rule of providence, God’s care and ordering of all things, is also committed to him, for he sustains all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3).

Then the psalmist turns to those who opposed his rule and blocked his work, trying to keep up the evil and godlessness he wanted to restrain. “I said to the fools, Do not act foolishly,” he says. He may have said this earlier, in Saul’s time, when he could not stop them by force but still had wisdom and grace to warn them. Though they were lifted up by the favor of that unhappy king, he told them not to grow presumptuous.

Or more likely, he is speaking of what he said once he came to the throne. As soon as he was crowned, he issued a warning against sin and godlessness, and these are the words of that proclamation. To the simple, sneaking sinners, the foolish ones in Israel who were ruining themselves, he said, “Do not act foolishly.” They were doing the very opposite of reason and self-interest by walking against God’s law and against the promises God had made to David.

Christ, the Son of David, gives the same warning. He commands us not to be foolish. He, who has become wisdom for us from God, tells us to be wise for our own good and not make fools of ourselves. To the proud, bold sinners, the wicked who challenged God himself, he says, “Do not lift up your horn,” meaning, do not boast in your power or your privileges. Do not keep resisting the rule set over you. Do not speak with a stiff neck, a stubborn will that will not bend to God.

Those who will not bend will break. A stiff neck leads to destruction. This is Christ’s command in the gospel, that every mountain will be brought low before him (Isaiah 40:4). Let not anti-Christian power, with its heads and horns, lift itself up against him, because it will surely be broken to pieces. What is said with a stiff neck must one day be unsaid with a broken heart, or we are lost. Pharaoh said with a stiff neck, “Who is the Lord?” But God made him know the answer at a painful cost.