‘I hope he’s burning in hell’: words spoken by a grieving mother, directed at her 21-year-old son’s murderer. We don’t know if she believed in hell, but either way her words express a human reaction. It’s a cry against injustice and for things to be put right; for people to be held to account for evil. Psalm 97 addresses this sensitive area, proclaiming God as the King who consumes his foes (v 3) and puts idol worshippers to shame (v 7). This is a cause for gladness because we hate evil and need to be guarded from its attacks (v 10). We believe evil will be brought to its knees. The God before whom even Everest and Kilimanjaro melt will see to it (v 5).

We rejoice in God’s righteousness, awaiting the day when it becomes clear to all that Christ is ‘the beginning and the firstborn’ (Colossians 1:18). This is not a cause for smugness, complacency or being revengeful. Rather we share God’s foundational commitment to righteousness and justice and resultant hatred of evil. We rejoice when right is done and weep when it is not. It means keeping our hearts right and warning those who think themselves unaccountable. But ultimately it makes us optimistic, hopeful, joyful people.

Teach us, gracious Lord, to worship you with reverence and great joy. 

This glorious psalm celebrates the universal reach of the reign of Israel’s God and the mysterious nature of his being. The global reach of the Lord’s rule and the joy this brings to humanity as a whole are evident in the opening verse, but they echo and re-echo throughout the poem. Although the psalmist affirms the special relationship which Israel knows with God, since ‘he guards the lives of his faithful ones’ (v 10), the knowledge that is available to ‘all peoples’ (v 6) enables them to recognise the divine glory and even to realise the futility of the worship of idols (v 7).

At the same time, the joy that flows from this knowledge and from the worship of God does not result in an over-familiarity that might erode our feelings of awe and reverence. The psalm reflects the Hebrew understanding of God, which ‘reverently maintains the mystery of his nature and impressively indicates the threateningly serious character of his appearing’.¹ True worship of God results in humble praise and a real hatred of what is evil, since ‘righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne’ (v 2). 

The early part of the psalm describes what is known as a ‘theophany’, an awe-inspiring revelation of divine power and majesty, which displays the greatness of the Creator to ‘all peoples’. At the same time, the fact that God’s nature has been displayed to the whole world creates a longing for a still future coming of God. The language of the divine advent anticipates ‘the similar tones and word-pictures with which the Christmas gospels in Luke and John report the fulfilment of that promise’.²

Take a moment to reread verse 12 and make it your personal response to this psalm.

¹ Artur Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary, Westminster Press, 1962, p632 ²Weiser, 1962, p635