A day is coming when all shall sing
“All hail the power of Jesus name, let angels prostrate fall;
bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him King of All.”
Psalm 1
1 Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.
2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.
3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.
5 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.
7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.
16 There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 72:1-11 – “King of Kings”
Solomon’s reign opened as a morning without clouds. Much of the imagery of this royal ode is derived from the circumstances of his life. Compare Psalm 72:1-4 with his prayer for the listening heart, I Kings 3:9; the anticipations of peace, Psalm 72:3, 7, with his name, “the peaceful one;” the rule from sea to sea, Psalm 72:8, with I Kings 4:24; the presents from Sheba, Psalm 72:10, with I Kings 10. But Solomon’s failure to realize his ideals compelled men to anticipate with great desire the advent of a greater Prince of Peace. Of Jesus alone is this psalm true in its details.
Notice the foundations of Jesus’ reign, Psalm 72:1-4; the perpetuity of His kingdom, Psalm 72:5-7, and its universality, Psalm 72:8-11. The poor are His care. The peace He gives is in abundance and it passes understanding. Sun and moon may fail, but His love is unaffected by the flight of ages. The rain on mown grass and the distilling of the dew are not more gentle than His work in human souls that lie open to His approach. Take this glorious psalm and claim it, verse by verse, as true for you. —Through the Bible Day by Day
RESCUED.
Wherever the tide of human life flows very deeply and swiftly, there shipwreck is most frequent and we place Rescue Missions at these points. But do we ever think of there being rescue missions in the skies? Could we scan the far battlements of heaven we might, perhaps, see them lined with hosts of angels watching and waiting to descend to the rescue of some tender child whom it were better to snatch away to scenes of glory, than leave it in an atmosphere that reeks with moral contagion. It was such a scene as appears here that Isaiah saw when he wrote “He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom” (Isaiah 40:11).
Psalm 72:4
Psalm 72:6—Like rain upon the mown grass.
Amos speaks of the king’s mowings. Our King has many scythes, and is perpetually mowing his lawns. The musical tinkle of the whetstone on the scythe portends the cutting down of myriads of green blades, daisies, and other flowers. Beautiful as they were in the morning, within an hour or two they lie in long, faded rows. Thus in human life we make a brave show, which passes away like the beauty of grass, before the scythe of pain, the shears of disappointment, the sickle of death.
There is no method of obtaining a velvety lawn but by repeated mowings; and there is no way of getting tenderness, evenness, sympathy, but by the passing of God’s scythes. How constantly the Word of God compares man to grass, and his glory to its flower! But when grass is mown, and all the tender shoots are bleeding, and desolation reigns where flowers were bursting, it is the most acceptable time for showers of rain falling soft and warm.
O soul, thou hast been mown. Time after time the King has come to thee with his sharp scythe. Thou hast sadly learnt that all flesh is grass, and that the efforts of thy self-life are vain. Where are the kingcups and butter-cups of thy pride? They are laid low that thou shouldest bear better crops than ever; and that thou mayest do so, lo, He comes down as spring rain! He comes down; thus you have the miracle of his condescension. He comes down like rain; there you have the manner of his gentle advent. He comes upon the mown grass; there is his expectancy, showing that his reason in mowing, followed as it is by the gentle raindrops, lies in the direction of new beauty and use. Do not dread the scythe—it is sure to be followed by the shower. —Our Daily Homily
Psalm 72:12-20 – “His Name Shall Endure Forever”
How is it that lands so distant as Tarshish, by the Strait of Gibraltar; so rich as Sheba and Seba in south Arabia; tribes so wild as the Bedouin of the desert; and nations so imperial as those beyond the River, shall own the sway of Christ? The answer is given in Psalm 72:12–For! The world is full of sorrow and injustice, and He who can stanch flowing wounds and mete out justice to the oppressed, will win all hearts and become the acknowledged Leader of mankind.
He shall live! We cannot forget our Lord’s own words: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,” Revelation 1:18. Jesus is possessed of the ageless life of the eternal Word, of the human life which He bore through His sojourn on earth, and of that indissoluble life in virtue of which He exercises His priesthood, Hebrews 7:17.
“We pray for Christ,” says; Augustine, “when we pray for His Church, because it is His body; and when we say, ‘Thy kingdom come.’” His name shall endure for ever, Psalm 72:17. It will reproduce itself. The children of “his name” are found in every land, and will ultimately people the world. —Through the Bible Day by Day