Psalm 2 - Bondage or Bound?

God, ever since the call of Abram in Genesis 12, you have made it abundantly clear that the nations have been on your heart - the very people who gathered in rebellion against you at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 are the very people you have desired to bless through Abram and his family.  

And now, in Psalm 2, you are inviting the nations to take refuge in the anointed son who sits on the throne in this nation. God, in one sense, we know this to be David - the anointed king whom the nations were to come and find refuge. But, we also know that this is ultimately the Son of David/God whose kingdom is now and not yet.  

But God, as you seek to provide “refuge” (v. 12) to the nations, they are “raging” (v. 1) against your sovereign rule. And in their raging, the thing they want the most is to be free of your “chains (v. 3). To submit to your sovereign rule feels like slavery.

God, how often I can feel like this - to obey you feels like a death to my freedom, my sovereignty, my autonomy, my independence, my pleasures, my power, my authority, my life, and my will.  

And so, like Judas, I can politely “kiss the son” (v. 12) while betraying you for temporary gain.  

But, God, as Psalm 107:14 and 116:16 make clear, independence from your rule in my life isn’t freedom at all - it is bondage. It leads to the very chains that I want to be free from.

Jesus, thank you that you came to set the prisoner free (Luke 4:18). Thank you for the reminder that there is no freedom apart from you. And thank you that being bound to you means rest for my soul - because you are a King who is gentle and humble in heart and whose yoke is easy and burden is light.  

Jesus, still my raging heart, and let me find rest in being bound to you.

Amen.