July 17, 2002

Reading: Psalm 2 ff

 

“Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance” (8)

 

Missionary groups often claim these words (and rightfully so) that God will advance His gospel among the heathen. But let’s look at these words in their context:

 

1.      David, the author, was the King of Israel and a man who meditated in the word of the Lord both day and night, and he had a burning question for God, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” (1).

2.      God answered David and told him the heathen would know His wrath because He would punish them because they were enemies of His people (5)

3.      God said He has set His king upon the holy hill of Zion. That king was David. David was God’s man of the moment (6).

4.      God called David “my son” (7).

5.      God made a promise to David, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (8).

6.      The fulfillment of God’s promises to David was contingent upon one thing, that he put his trust in the Lord (12).

 

God had put David in authority over His people; in other words he was God’s vassal, the ‘under-king’ of Israel. The capitol city of Israel was Jerusalem, the City of Peace, and David wanted peace for all of his people. This was not an easy task when the nations around him seemed intent on warring against him. “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?” Not only did he have to face the opposition of neighboring countries but also within his own nation certain factions plotted against him.

David saw himself as working in cooperation with God, for when his enemies plotted against him they were also plotting against the Lord, “The rulers take counsel together against the LORD and His anointed” (2).

It was a legitimate question that David had for God, and He was quick to answer him. God shows David the real prospective; what this problem looks like from His lofty position, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision” (4).

Many times, what seems to us a major problem is to the Lord of little or no consequence. I have found that one of the secrets to victory in my life over the devil is to see things from God’s point of view. As Born Again Christians, we also are in a lofty position, which enables us to view the enemy as a defeated foe. You see, God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). So we ask, ‘Where is Christ Jesus?’ He is seated “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come,” and, “all things are under His feet” (Eph: 1:20-22).

We must always remember to ask ourselves “How does God see this situation?” When we do this, we also can laugh because we know God is always in control. God reminded David of the bottom line, “Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (12). In other words, our enemies will recoil when we trust the Lord. Our enemies will become our inheritance for we will be able to “break them with a rod of iron” (9).