Our King

Psalm 47:1 – Come, everyone! Clap your hands!
Shout to God with joyful praise!
² For the Lord Most High is awesome.
He is the great King of all the earth.
³ He subdues the nations before us,
putting our enemies beneath our feet.
⁴ He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance,
the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves.

⁵ God has ascended with a mighty shout.
The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring.
⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises!
⁷ For God is the King over all the earth.
Praise him with a psalm!
⁸ God reigns above the nations,
sitting on his holy throne.
⁹ The rulers of the world have gathered together
with the people of the God of Abraham.
For all the kings of the earth belong to God.
He is highly honored everywhere. (NLT)

Psalm 47 was written in celebration of a king’s victory, but it is also prophetic in that it looked forward to the Messiah’s reign and rule.  Verse one indicates that all people – not just the Jews – were invited to shout to God with a joyful praise.  The people were told to clap their hands.  Clapping hands was and is a way in which to celebrate, but it can also be used to draw people’s attention.  Likewise, our praise of God should draw attention to God.  Drawing the attention of people outside of the church as we praise God inside our churches might be difficult, but we are to live a life of praise.  Our praise of God should not be reserved only for our times of corporate worship, we should be ready and willing to praise God at all times and in all places.

Verse three tells us that our great king – our Messiah – has put our enemies beneath our feet. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:12 – “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Our enemies are not flesh and blood. They are not of this world.  Quite often we live as if our enemies are the people we work with, or even people within our own homes.  Not so!  We need to seek strength to overcome these difficult relationships through Jesus, for Jesus has put our true enemy beneath our feet. 

Verse eight reminds us that God reigns above all.  I have a friend who, when hearing bad news will respond with, “Well, at least God still reigns.”  We must always be mindful that God reigns.  No matter what troubles we face, our Lord is king above all, and our enemies have been defeated.

Today, let us be ready to praise God at all times.  Let us praise God confidently, knowing that our king has defeated our enemies, and our king reigns! 

Posted by Ramón Torres