Psalms 75:1

The Bible says in Psalms 75:1, “Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.” This is a very good Psalm for stating the philosophy of life of a believer. To be a person who lives by faith, it is important to be thankful every moment of every day. We can be thankful for everything that the Lord did even before we were alive. We know about such things from the scriptures. We can be thankful for God’s creation. The beauty and majesty of the universe should remind us of the creative hand of God. We should be thankful for all the things that God has done in our lives. We should be thankful for our salvation though the death of Christ. We should be thankful for all the promises of the Bible and how faithfully God keeps His promises. There is so much to be thankful for, but if we are not careful, we will go through parts of the day without being thankful.

The Bible says in Psalms 75:2, “When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.” The “congregation” refers to the believers who are gathered together. We call that a church or a church service. Jesus created the church: the people in the world who believe in Him and who gather together in the name of the Lord to do four things: 1. Preaching and teaching of the Word of God. 2. Singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 3. Prayer. 4. Fellowship whereby each Christian uses their gifts for the benefit of others. The Psalmist seems to recognize the need to “judge uprightly” when he is with the congregation of believers. There is a right way to act and a right way to talk when around other believers. You want to talk about the Lord and the things of the Lord in order to encourage other believers and be a blessing to them.

The Bible says in Psalms 75:3-7, “The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.[4] I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:[5] Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.[6] For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.[7] But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” The phrase in verse three: “The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved” refers to the fact that the Psalmist could look at the earth and see a lot of problems: most people not knowing the Lord or serving Him; many people living lives of immorality or deceit or dishonesty. Somebody has to make the world a better place, and so the Psalmist said, “I bear up the pillars of it.” That is exactly what true believers do: we are examples to the rest of the world for honesty and integrity and respect of others. We demand a higher standard for ourselves and for everyone else. Because we follow Jesus, we are leaders and not followers. We help preserve society and become a voice of reason with God to the people of the earth.

We have a message to the foolish and to the wicked. To the foolish we point out that there is wisdom from God available through faith in Christ. To the wicked we point out that their problem is resistance to God, and they need to surrender to the Lord Jesus instead of resisting Him. Do not have “a stiff neck.” Also, in our message we remind the people of the world that God is Judge and the judgment is coming. You cannot fight against God and win. As it says in verse seven, “God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

The Bible says in Psalms 75:8, “For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.” This is a reminder to the wicked that God is in control. What is the cup that is in God’s hand? It contains what God is going to pour into your life and into mine. God’s cup contains a lot of things. It is “full of mixture.” You might want to be aware of that fact, and be humble under the mighty hand of God. You want to be thankful, and look at your life and say about the good things, “This is what God has done for me.” What are the “dregs” from the cup? Those are the things that you do not want to happen to you: judgment and condemnation. But that is what the wicked will get, unless they turn to Jesus while there is time.

The Bible says in Psalms 75:9, “But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.” But no matter what the wicked do, this is what a wise believer does: sings “praises to the God of Jacob.” God is in control. God is Judge of the whole earth, but He will not judge me because I have Jesus as my Savior. If you believe like the Psalmist, how long do you plan to praise the Lord: “forever.” Every day the goal is to praise the Lord for all that He has done for us in the past, everything that He does for us today, and what He will do in the future.

The Bible says in Psalms 75:10, “All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.” This is one last reminder in this Psalm of the destiny of the wicked compared to the destiny of those who know Jesus as their Savior. A horn symbolizes power and authority. The greatest power is God. Any humans who have power have it as a gift from God. But it is for a limited time, and will be taken away when God decides. Jesus is coming back. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

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