“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?”
It is distressing to see the news on television or the
internet these days. There is so much
rage. Whether it be the rage between
political parties, or the rage of special interest groups, or the rage between
countries, or the rage of ISIS against Christians. The Hebrew word used here is ‘ragash.’ According to Strong’s (07283) this second
Psalm is the only place that word is used in scripture. It means to be in a tumult or commotion, to
conspire or plot.
There is much that precedes getting to the point of being in
a tumult, a conspiracy or a plot, of getting to a rage. Generally speaking, the person that finally
gets to the point of rage says that they have been wronged, they say that they
have not been treated fairly. Whether
fair or not, the truth is, they are going to take it into their own hands to
have their own way. What God is talking
about in this second of the Psalms is not a human rage against another human,
but a rage against God. The question God
asks, “why do the nations rage?” is
not because He does not know the answer.
He knows that they are enemies with Him.
He knows that they resent His holiness and His requirements for
accountability. We know this because in
verse 3 the people say “let us break Their
bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” This is about the people’s rebellion against God’s
requirement to admit their sin, call sin the sin that it is, and to repent of
sin and stop sinning. “They cannot
endure the yoke, at least the yoke of the Lord and his anointed. They will be
content to entertain such notions of the kingdom of God and the Messiah as will
serve them to dispute of and to support their own dominion with: if the Lord
and his anointed will make them rich and great in the world, they will bid them
welcome; but if they will restrain their corrupt appetites and passions,
regulate and reform their hearts and lives, and bring them under the government
of a pure and heavenly religion, truly then they will not have this man to
reign over them (see Luke 19:14)” (Matthew Henry)
God knows why the people rage. The reason He asks why has to do with the
futility of their rage. We know this
because of the second part of the question, "and the people plot a vain thing?" When something (or someone) is vain, it is
empty, it is idle, it has no purpose. It
is vain because it can accomplish nothing.
How could the creature think to plot against the Creator? God Almighty, our Creator, is omniscient,
omnipresent, and omnipotent. There is no
winning against Him. Such a plot is
vain.
One would think that those who plot against God do not know
Him. But the evil one knows God and has
stood before Him, yet he plots. “We have
here a very great struggle about the kingdom of Christ, hell and heaven
contesting it; the seat of the war is this earth, where Satan has long had a
usurped kingdom and exercised dominion to such a degree that he has been called
the prince of the power of the very air we breathe in and the
god of the world we live in. He knows very well that, as the Messiah’s
kingdom rises and gets ground, his falls and loses ground; and therefore,
though it will be set up certainly, it shall not be set up tamely.” (Matthew Henry)
Are you at war with God?
Are you mad at Him about something that happened in your life? Do you think it is not fair that God holds
you accountable for your sin and that you could go to hell when there are worse
people out there than you? Let me tell
you what is not fair. You and I have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
We deserve condemnation. Yet God
made a way for us to reconcile with Him.
He sacrificed His only begotten son, that whoever believes in His Son
will have everlasting life and not condemnation. It is not fair that because of Christ’s
sacrifice, I get eternal life. Fair
would be for me to go to hell. I thank
God for His Son Jesus Christ and my salvation through Him. All I had to do was confess my sins, repent,
and receive Jesus as my Lord and my Savior.
I rejoice that Jesus gave us victory over sin and death. I tremble for those who are waging a war that
they will not win.
“This psalm, as the former, is very fitly prefixed to this
book of devotions, because, as it is necessary to our acceptance with God that
we should be subject to the precepts of his law, so it is likewise that we
should be subject to the grace of his gospel, and come to him in the name of a
Mediator.” (Matthew Henry)
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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