Psalm 60
Defeat & Sovereignty
How do we process defeat as Christians? How do we rationalise when the Church loses its battles?
Right now, for the church in Scotland, there are numerous bills of legislation going through that could potentially hinder our freedom to minister the word of God. So if these go through parliament and we lose our fight against them, what does that mean?
In that emotional swirl, this Psalm is a call to lean on the Sovereign Lord.
For the director of music. To the tune of ‘The Lily of the Covenant’. A miktam of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
1 You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
you have been angry – now restore us!
2 You have shaken the land and torn it open;
mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
3 You have shown your people desperate times;
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
to be unfurled against the bow.5 Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary:
‘In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah is my sceptre.
8 Moab is my washbasin,
on Edom I toss my sandal;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.’9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us
and no longer go out with our armies?
11 Give us aid against the enemy,
for human help is worthless.
12 With God we shall gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies.
The superscription here (the lines in italics) illuminates the way forward for us as we read, pray and sing the Psalm. This sets the events under the reign of King David and his battles against surrounding nations (see 2 Samuel 8-10). But it also sets the trajectory, for while the battles are to be fierce, the triumph of the people of God is assured.
The first throes of combat have been disastrous. The land has been been ripped asunder and the people are reeling from their devastating defeat. The language here is dramatic and emphatic.
But the key emphasis here is that David and his army’s woes are at the hand of God himself (1-3). He is the one who has rejected them, burst upon them, been angry at them, shaken and torn the land, shown the people desperate times and made them stagger under the weight of defeat. He is the reason they have suffered ignominious defeat at the hand of their foes.
We are not given any reason as to why God is displeased with the people and why he withdrawn his favour. There might be a subtle clue in vv11-12, when the King leads his people back to God in prayer. They might have become complacent and not submitted themselves and their plans to God. Instead, they might have trusted in their own military acumen and martial prowess.
But this isn’t a Psalm inviting us to self-examination, seeking to interrogate where we have gone wrong. Instead, it is a summons to return to the Sovereign God. We see this first in vv4-5, where God has raised his own banner, and all those who fear him are to draw under it. In Exodus 17, when the people of Israel had not long been liberated from Egypt, they came under attack from the Amalekites. After the victory, Moses constructed an altar which was to be called “The LORD is my Banner”, because he lifted up his hands to God and God gave the victory to his people. And the right hand of God that David references in v5 is the same one that triumphed over Pharaoh at the Red Sea (Exodus 15.6). Here then is an invite to return to God and be strong in the strength of his might (Ephesians 6.10). For he will deliver his people like he has done before.
And those who come under his banner hear his voice. His words here to his people emphasise one clear reality about God, he is sovereign!
Over all these peoples, and nations and lands, God rules with absolute authority. Whatever he decides for them, they will do. Who dwells in them is his decision. How he uses them, either as instruments in his purposes (v7) or for more degrading tasks, that is his prerogative alone. He, by himself, reigns with all power and dominion over the entire earth.
And so, with this in mind, we ask, who will lead us into victory? Who will secure our triumph?
The answer for David is clear and simple, which is why it is so surprising that so often, we forget and make it more opaque and complicated than it need be.
God alone can deliver us. God alone can empower us to fend off the enemy. God alone can make his church overpower the gates of hell.
David led his people into victory against their enemies for they trusted in God.
King Jesus leads the church into victory because we trust in the one who raised him from the dead.
We are currently engaged in what Tolkien described as the “long defeat”. Most often, it looks as though the church is losing. It’s hard and it’s dispiriting.
Yet there is one reason why we can confidently say, “Where O Death is your victory? Where O Death is your sting?” It is because we have the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ who has defeated death. And if he has, all those who follow him and believe in him will also walk past our long defeat and defeat death in him.
Glory be to God the Father, who is the Sovereign Lord, reigning in glory and power.
Glory be to God the Son, slain so he could reign forevermore.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who is the power of resurrection dwelling in us.
Ever three and ever One.