When God Laughs! Part 1

Psalm 2:1-4, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.”

With everything that’s been happening in this nation and the world as of late it is easy to lose sight of certain inescapable and absolute truths. When we lose sight of these truths, we can’t help but allow fear to creep into our hearts, and if not fear, in the least, concern for the future in general, and concern for the future of our children and grandchildren in particular depending on our age bracket.

Upon doing any sort of study in regards to the book of Psalms one quickly realizes that although the first Psalm was geared toward individuals, and had individuals in mind, the second Psalm is geared toward nations, and has entire nations in mind.

The first Psalm gave us counsel as individuals, highlighting the difference between the blessed and the cursed, between the righteous and the lawless, and although many believe the second Psalm is a continuation of the first, the message of it broadens and begins to include nations as well.

Another way of looking at the first and second Psalm – by the way, neither of which were written by David but by an anonymous source – is that the first Psalm deals with the law, and the second Psalm deals with the Prophets, or prophecies concerning a future time, and events not yet manifested in the present.

If in the first Psalm the accent and predominant central theme was man, in the second Psalm, the accent and predominant central theme is God.

It is in this second Psalm that we discover certain attributes of God’s nature, and the way He beholds those who resist, rebel, and defy Him.

Given everything that’s happening in the world today, the first verse of the second Psalm poses a very apropos and timely question: ‘Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?’

Granted, none of those who are currently plotting and planning and raging and fuming believe that they are doing so in vain - their actions amounting to nothing more than attempting to empty out the ocean with a thimble - but the Word of God tells us that all their machinations are hollow, futile, and pointless.

Although we will get deeper into this Psalm as I am planning on making it a multi-part teaching, the first thing that stuck out and as such the first thing I want to share with you, is that regardless of what we see with our physical eyes, regardless of everything our senses are telling us and contrary to what the natural man is trying to imply, God is in control!

There has not been a second since the beginning of creation that God has not been in control. There has never been a circumstance, there has never been a situation that God did not foresee, or that somehow caught God by surprise and unaware.

Even the best laid plans of men turn to ruination when the God of heaven is against them. Even the most thought out, meticulous, infinitesimally detailed plots are stillborn when God’s plan differs from the plans of men.

It is when we forget that God is in control, it is when we forget that though the nations rage and the kings and rulers of the earth plot together they do so in vain that we grow despondent and concerned regarding a future which looks bleaker with each passing day.

Men plan, God laughs. Men work themselves up into a tizzy, thinking they can outmaneuver God, thinking they can go against His will and still prevail, and all God does in response is laugh and hold them in derision.

As this Psalm begins to unfold, we notice that the kings of the earth and the rulers thereof are not plotting and planning a war or a skirmish against a third party, they are not uniting under one banner to vanquish a foe, they’ve gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed.

In essence, the kings and rulers of the earth take counsel together to determine how they can do away with God and His anointed who is none other than Christ Jesus our Lord.

This ought to open our eyes to the reality that though we’re told by every media outlet that no one’s got anything against Christians and Christianity, the Word of God forewarned us even during the times of King David that rulers and kings would plot to break the bonds and cast away the cords of God from them.

In layman’s terms, these kings and rulers were plotting how they could acquire their independence from God. Certain truths begin to break away as we continue to meditate on this passage, and one of the most glaring ones is that in order to desire independence from God, one must have, at some point, been dependent upon Him.

One cannot desire independence from something or someone unless they were dependent to begin with.

These kings and rulers had decided they no longer wanted to submit themselves to God’s authority, and as such they began looking for ways and means by which they could break the bonds, and cast away the cords of God altogether.

The thing we must not lose sight of, is that God is not ignorant of these plans. God is not ignorant of the plots and counsels of kings and rulers, far removed from what goes on here on earth. He listens, He sees, and taking into account all they venture to do, He laughs.

We begin to see a portrait of an engaged God emerging from just these four verses, a God who is present, and involved, a God who has not removed Himself nor lost interest in His creation.

This gives us hope and joy and peace, because contrary to the vociferous declarations of some, God is still implicated in His creation’s existence, He still watches over the righteous, and yes, He still judges the ungodly.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.