Today is my birthday. I bet you didn’t know that! And of course, I’d only expect my immediate family to have it marked on their calendars. On the other hand, I imagine a good number of the singer Billie Eilish’s 88 million followers on social media to be wishing her many happy returns today. This is going to connect to our psalm, I promise!

Psalm 76 may have struck you as a psalm about war and how warlike, fierce and angry God can get. But here’s the thing: as we’ve seen in Jeremiah, these were rough and ready, bloody and brutal times in which the most respected were the fiercest warriors, leaders who defeated enemies in battle and defended their people and land. In reaching for picture language to express how far above and beyond the greatest humans on earth the Lord is, this was the obvious way for the psalm writer to go. 

In many cultures today, a celebrity is esteemed more highly than an army general. But God’s fame (v 1), influence (v 8) and radiance (v 4) are infinitely greater. And a week today, over two millennia after his birth, the birthday of Jesus, God incarnate, will be celebrated in every corner of the world. 

We pray for all authority figures, role models and influencers. May they conduct themselves in righteousness and the fear of God, so that all people everywhere may live in peace.

On 1 September 2016, Colin Kaepernick, an African American football player, ‘took the knee’ instead of standing to attention during the singing of the national anthem, at the start of a game. This was a personal gesture to protest against racial discrimination, which is a denial of a fundamental human right. The gesture has since gone viral, and most English professional football players and officials take the knee at the start of each game. The search for justice, peace and equality is universal and enduring. There have been many declarations of principle and concomitant gestures, but the search goes on. The objective, however, is still out of reach.

Psalm 76 points to the only solution: the King of [Jeru]Salem (the word means peace; cf shalom, Solomon, salaam). 

It is out of Zion that this God, the Lord, has revealed himself. The world owes an immense, eternal debt to Israel for preserving the self-revelation of the Lord. He is described in terms that depict him as the warrior king, whose awesome majestic power, located in the Temple in Zion, overcomes all pretenders, local, national or cosmic, and their offensive weapons. His power overwhelms and restrains the oppressors but saves and raises up the oppressed (v 9). His acts of salvation are legendary, not least the Exodus from Egypt led by Moses. His dynamic word has power to create and to overpower. This King is Judge over all the earth (vs 7–9). Through Jesus Christ, he has demonstrated his commitment to promoting and protecting well-being and the ability to flourish for all human beings everywhere (vs 12), especially the poor and downtrodden. 

It is not enough to say that I am a person of peace who does my neighbour no harm. We must be proactive in combating every outrageous incidence of injustice.