In Paris on Friday night, a coordinated attack of ISIS terrorists took 129 innocent lives into eternity and injured hundreds. The web of socio-political entanglements leading to this atrocity is so chronologically and culturally complex that I would not even dare to feign an artificial explanation beyond the twisted depravity of the human heart.
We stand astonished at the cold-bloodedness of the killing spree. We’ve seen surreal photos taken moments before the attacks began. The victims were acting so … normal. How could people do this to other people?
Yet, consider this. Before a single life was taken in Paris on Friday night, the abortion industry in the United States on Friday alone had already plucked 4,143 young lives from the safety of their mothers’ wombs.[1]
Land of the free? Home of the brave?
On Friday, 129 perished to the concussion blasts of improvised explosives and a fusillade of crackling bullets. In the States, 4,143 souls perished to the sanitized drone of an electric vacuum. In Paris, the perpetrators destroyed themselves in a final act of self-immolation. Here at home, the aborting physicians hopped into their luxury vehicles and drove home for a nice fall weekend with their loved ones to recoup for more patients on Monday.
Am I writing this because I’m less than horrified by Friday’s terrorist attacks? No.
Am I saying that the United States is a bad place to live? Hardly.
Am I implying that there should be no military retaliation for Friday’s events? Not at all.
I am speaking in accordance with Psalms 2 and 67. The heathen do, in fact, rage. And whether they strap bombs to their bodies or hang lab coats over their shoulders, the heathen try to get at God by destroying His image-bearing representatives on this earth. And the Most High laughs. Not because He’s callous to our despondence. No, He was so deeply moved by His love for His creation that He sent His Son to suffer the punishment we deserve. He laughs because mankind’s most desperate and determined efforts to dethrone Him fall so laughably and shockingly short. So profound is their failure that God uses the evil of their hearts to advance His Kingdom.
That was all Psalm 2.
But there is another Psalm that provides a shockingly simple solution to the world’s rage: Psalm 67. Presumably written by Israel’s greatest military mind, it reminds us that God’s Kingdom is not advanced by flag-waving patriotism, but by gospel-saturated pilgrims.
Before the nations can find peace, they must find their joy, their salvation, and their satisfaction in God Most High (v. 2-3). And in order for those nations to learn the joyous praise of the Lord, God’s people must learn to marinate in the goodness of their God. Look at it—it’s right there in verse 1.
“God grace us and bless us; make your face to shine upon us. Selah.” (That’s a very literal translation).
Notice the triple “us.” David is talking to and about believers. And then there’s that “Selah,” which is an encouragement to stop and meditate.
The heathen are raging. And in order for them to be glad, in order for them to break forth in radiant songs of praise, they need to look to their left and right and see God’s people thinking, meditating, and overflowing with joy over God’s gracious deliverance.
And that probably sounds hopelessly naïve to some. I would say no, it’s not naïve. It’s Biblical. Who is more concerned with the glory of God than God Himself? And here, in Psalm 67, God tells us how to win glory for Himself among the raging nations.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. Selah, that your way be known on the earth, your saving power among the nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God, let the peoples praise you.
[1] I arrived at that number by dividing the number of abortions reported in the U.S. (1.04M) by the number of working days (251).
