I remember working on a musical adaptation of Psalm 94 a number of years ago. I composed something that I felt expressed the emotions of the psalmist in the music which in this case is anger. When I finished, I felt a bit concerned about the sheer fury of this psalm and wondered how our audiences would cope with such an expression. I was thinking the same thing when I went to record the psalm. “Maybe,” I thought, “the anger in this psalm is just a bit over the top.” I found it hard to see the place of this kind of thing. As I drove to the studio I was listening to the news on the radio and a report came on about Christians in northern Iraq being butchered by ISIS. I was disturbed and angry by what I heard. As I started to sing this psalm in the studio, I found that it not only made sense, but that it seemed to carry my feelings in a constructive direction. The psalm carried my anger before the throne of God whose sole prerogative it is to judge evildoers. The psalm was helping me express my legitimate indignation but also, by recognising God’s prerogative as judge, it helped me to relinquish my anger to him. These psalms that call for divine vengeance have an important role to play. They allow us to take our anger to God so that we can get on with Christ’s mission of grace. Jesus is coming soon to judge the world. He wants us to long for this day. Psalm 94 is what that longing looks like
What most angers you about what you see in the world? Pray Psalm 94 over this situation.
Read Psalm 94
