Psalm 68: Scattered

Just as Psalm 67 opened with a quotation from Aaron, Psalm 68 begins with an indirect quotation or adaption of Moses’ prayer in Numbers 10:35, as Israel was leaving Mount Sinai to begin the journey from the mountain where they had met God to the Promised Land. David wrote, “God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him.” About 450 years earlier, Moses had prayed, “Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you.” David was singing in promise what Moses had prayed in faith. What Moses hoped for David believed in. David had seen in the testimony of Moses what God would do in his life. 

The question that really matters in this is, what was Moses praying for? In Numbers 10, Israel was about to move on from Mount Sinai, from the place where they had met God, where they had sinned horribly and received mercy undeservedly. It was the place where the Law had been given, where the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant had been built. Now they were moving, not by their choice but by God’s leadership.  Numbers 9:17 tells us the pattern for Israel’s movements during their 40 years between Egypt and Canaan, “Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out” (NIV). Moses was not asking God to bless their way; He was asking God to lead the way. It was not just a request for protection, it was a declaration of dependence.

Who were these enemies? Along the way they would go through other nations, they would, without a doubt, face armies and threats of war. They would encounter unwelcoming and jealous kings. They would encounter other enemies as well: difficult terrain, unstable weather, lack of food and water, divisions in the camp and many other things that were out of their control. But the greatest enemies they would face, in fact the only enemies that could keep them from reaching the place God was leading, were not things that would happen to them, but issues that were hiding in them: fear, anxiety, disobedience and ultimately, the greatest enemy of all, unbelief.

God was leading so He was prepared to scatter their enemies. He had already proved Himself by miraculously leading Israel out of Egypt and then, through the opening and closing of the Red Sea, removing the threat of Egypt’s army from ever coming against them again. God could and He would, miraculously defeat armies, He would provide water from rocks and food from heaven. He would hold the sun still for Israel’s sake and open the Jordan River the same way He had opened the Red Sea. Nothing was too difficult for God and nothing would ever take Him by surprise. He had Israel’s course planned and the way set, the only enemy that could derail Israel from God’s promises was Israel itself.

In God’s kindness, He had planned to deal with their internal enemies just as He had planned to deal with their external ones. Deuteronomy 8:3 says God “let you hunger and fed you with manna”. This was at the end of the 40 years of wandering. God had not just been with Israel; He had been working for Israel by working in Israel. We often forget that the issues that derail us, that delay us and that dissuade us are not things out of our control, they are the things we have given control to in our lives. Israel had been impatient at Mt. Sinai and while Moses was talking to God, they built themselves an idol. They ran out of water and thought they were going to die so God poured water out of a rock. They ran out of food and thought they were going to die so God sent manna from heaven. They got to the edge of the Promised Land, spies went in and said the land was flowing with milk and honey, just as God said it would be, but that there were giants in the land and the people were too great for them to conquer. The people who had eaten manna that day, who were staring at God’s presence in the form of a cloud by day and fire by night, let the enemy of fear have control of their hearts and they voted to go back to slavery in Egypt rather than to watch God do what He had promised. The generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt, who were born to inherit the promised land, for whom God’s will was that they possess what Abraham, Isaac ad Jacob had been promised, refused to let God scatter the enemies of their fear and their worry. They refused to believe that God had taken them from slavery to sonship. Hebrews 3:19 simply says, “they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

What Moses prayed; David sang. David wouldn’t allow Israel to forget that God would scatter their enemies, He would search their hearts, He would expose their wounds, He would break through their stubborn places. Today when we sing “Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered” we are asking God to defeat the places in our hearts that are not fully trusting His heart. There is no decision or action of anyone that can keep God from having His will in our lives. There is no power of Satan or hell that can undo what God has planned to do in us or through us. God has already scattered those enemies. The hearts of kings are like water in the hands of God. What men intend for evil God intends for good. His word does not return void; if anything is from God it will not be stopped. But our hearts can deceive us, and our unbelief can keep us from entering what God has promised and prepared. The enemies that need to be scattered are not the habits we can’t break, the circumstances we can’t change and the memories we can’t forget. They are the thoughts we give room to, the desires we continue to feed and the satisfaction, only found in Christ, that we continue to search for in less people, places and things. Before we can sing like David we must pray like Moses. Before we can be sure that God will scatter our enemies, we must trust God to identify the enemies that must be scattered. Freedom doesn’t come when God makes our way clear, it comes when we let God have His way in our hearts. Let God arise in my heart and let His enemies be scattered from my life.