Kings aren't very popular in a democracy. In fact, the idea of the king is distasteful at best in the minds of most USAmericans. After all, as we are celebrating the 4th of July this coming weekend, isn't kingship what the Revolutionary War was all about? While on vacation, Heather and I went to a park and found a monument of an ever-burning flame to those who died in the Revolution. Indeed, kingship is not cool. So in the States, we hold on to passages in which God does not approve of monarchy for Israel, believing that things may have gone differently if Israel was a republic.
All of that being said, if we cannot identify with kingship, we miss some major portions of God's story. Certainly, monarchy can promote some of the worst in the human heart/society- marriage of church and state, so-called "holy war," misogyny, prejudice, oppression, injustice, just to name a few. Yet it would seem that these are perversions of power that humans have twisted from our own lust for more. It would not seem that these come from the way God views power.
God's power is a power that serves. Jesus' power came not from violent conquer, but radical servanthood. This psalm celebrates the glory that comes through victory- Jesus' victory was the cross (and the resurrection that followed). Jesus' glory bears the scars of crucifixion. What is our victory?
Maybe this passage will help us along (Philippians 3:10-11): I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
I like the first several verses, where the king is so joyful about how God has abundantly blessed him, not only today, but forever. Keeping that in mind for ourselves will help keep us in His will, maybe more than any other thing.
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