Week 2 Psalm 2
This year – for whatever reason – psalm 2:1-3 reminded me of Genesis 6:5 (I’d read the Flood story a couple of days ago so maybe that’s why Genesis came to mind). Anyway to prove my point I compared the two by sketching-up a two-column table so I could read the texts side-by-side. And it was at that point they seemed less similar than when they were floating around in my head.
It looked like Genesis 6 focused on the actual practicing of evil-doing. By contrast Psalm 2 highlighted people’s anger and their combative adversariality against the Lord.
But then when I read down to the end of both paragraphs I saw a similarity in outcome. Both had an ominous threat of destructive potential:
Genesis said the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I made them”
Psalm: …be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear…Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
The similarity means that I’m getting a double-dose reminder of the serious side of things.
In general it’s way easier to mentally stay on the Sunnier Side of the Street when it comes to the Lord. Which is fine (as long as I remember there’s more to him than that).
Note: quotes from Genesis 6:7 Psalm 2:10-12 (English Standard Version)