Moving With The Miracle People

Psalm 68:1-14

For the choir director: A psalm of David. A song.

1Arise, O God, and scatter your enemies.

Let those who hate God run for their lives.

2Drive them off like smoke blown by the wind.

Melt them like wax in fire.

Let the wicked perish in the presence of God.

3But let the godly rejoice.

Let them be glad in God’s presence.

Let them be filled with joy.

4Sing praises to God and to his name!

Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.

His name is the LORD—

rejoice in his presence!

5Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—

this is God, whose dwelling is holy.

6God places the lonely in families;

he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.

But for rebels, there is only famine and distress.

7O God, when you led your people from Egypt,

when you marched through the wilderness,

Interlude

8the earth trembled, and the heavens poured rain

before you, the God of Sinai,

before God, the God of Israel.

9You sent abundant rain, O God,

to refresh the weary Promised Land.

10There your people finally settled,

and with a bountiful harvest, O God,

you provided for your needy people.

11The Lord announces victory,

and throngs of women shout the happy news.

12Enemy kings and their armies flee,

while the women of Israel divide the plunder.

13Even those who lived among the sheepfolds found treasures—

doves with wings of silver

and feathers of gold.

14The Almighty scattered the enemy kings

like a blowing snowstorm on Mount Zalmon.

Imagine being in the company of Israelites when you finally escape from Egypt. God rescues you from harsh slavery and is taking you to a new land. Praise God!

But there’s a problem: A sea is in the way, and Pharaoh is sending his war chariots to chase you down.

But God carves a path through the sea. You walk through on dry land and then turn to see the waters closing in on the pursuing Egyptians. You are free!

Centuries later people are still talking about what happened at the Red Sea. Here in Psalm 68 David rehearses the way God led his people, continually working on their behalf and sending rain to them to grow their food.

We serve this same God today, and he is constantly working on our behalf. Nothing is too difficult for him, so we can follow him and know that he will provide for all our needs, just as he did for his people long ago.

Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King!

The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly:

The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow.

Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King.

GEORGE HERBERT

Fascinating Fact

Antony, father of the monastic movement, used to sing Psalm 68 to celebrate his triumph over spiritual foes. This often puzzled the townspeople, who heard his battle cries but saw no one attacking him.

Bible Networking

This may have been composed for David’s procession with the Ark when he took it from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem. See 2 Samuel 6:12.