God's contempt

"Ask of Me and I will give you
the nations for your inheritance."
by F. Hanfstaengl - 1894

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 2:1-12

TO CHEW ON:"He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision." Psalm 2:4

If there is one thing we dislike, it is to be laughed at and viewed with contempt.

[contempt: 1] the act or feeling of one who views something as mean, vile, worthless; disdain; scorn. 2] The state of being despised, disgrace, to be held in contempt.]

Thus the label "Divine Contempt" beside Psalm 2:4 in my Thompson Chain Bible  caught my attention. Here are some of the things, I discovered, that evoke God's contempt:

National rulers or political systems that despise God and Messiah.

• David invoked God's scorn on godless nations threatening Israel, her king and the seat of power in Psalm 59:5-8

"But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;
You shall have all the nations in derision."

• In a similar vein, Isaiah said to King Hezekiah when he was threatened by Assyria:

"Because you have prayed to Me against Sennarcherib king of Assyria, this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:
'The virgin, the daughter of Zion
Has despised you, laughter you to scorn...
has shaken her head behind your back...'" see Isaiah 37:18-22

• Our focus verse widens the net to include any nation or king that sets itself against the Lord and His anointed.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
         "The Lord shall hold them ("the nations"..."the kings of the earth") in derision"- Psalm 2:4.

Rulers who refuse to acknowledge God.
"He pours contempt on princes
And causes them to wander in the wilderness
where there is no way" -  Psalm 107:40.

The wicked who appear to prosper despite their godless ways.
In the end, they will experience God's scorn as opposed to those who appeared in their lifetimes to be the underdog. Psalm 73:
"Until I went into the sanctuary of God and understood their end..."
"As a dream when one awakes, so Lord, when you awake, You shall despise their image" - in the context of Psalm 73 especially verse 20 (Psalm 73:20).

His own people who forsake Him.
In case we're getting complacent thinking God's scorn is only visited on those bad guys, here is the sobering warning of Moses to God's own people, who had forgotten God:
"He spurned them ..." Deuteronomy 32:18-19

I ask, do I ever, do we ever put ourselves in a place to be objects of God's contempt? Let's let Proverbs 3:34 be our plumb line in this:

"Surely He scorns the scornful

But gives grace to the humble."

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to live humbly under You, always acknowledging Your ultimate sovereignty in the affairs of this earth — both largely in its kingdoms and particularly in my own life. Amen.

***********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.