Fear Man or Fear God - Psalms 75-77

 Psalms 76:4-6 (ESV)

4 Glorious are you, more majestic

than the mountains full of prey.

5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;

they sank into sleep;

all the men of war

were unable to use their hands.

6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both rider and horse lay stunned.

Psalm 76 is about the glories and power of God.    It begins with the power He bestowed on Jerusalem as His chosen city and move to His power over all things and then ends with is power over all the “kings of the earth.”   In the above section we read that God is more majestic then the mountains.   It is interesting that the writer uses an inanimate object (like mountains) to claim God’s awesome power.    Mountains don’t really do anything to express or demonstrate their power.  They just sit there ... or stand their ... abide there ... exist.    Yet, when we see mountains they conjure up in our minds, greatness.   That is what the writer is trying to convey.   He (the songwriter Asaph) is not saying that mountains exert power, but rather they are a the symbol of power.   In the ancient world mountains were looked at as possessed by the gods.  When Israel saw God on Mt. Sinai they shock with fear.   Asaph is telling us that God is powerful, more so than mountains.  

But, God is greater than the “stouthearted” and “all men of war.”     This is the point we are to embrace.   There is nothing that God can’t do and won’t do to protect His people.  We need to fear the world or mankind or the things the world presents.   At God’s rebuke the “horse and the rider.” At His rebuke, the “lay stunned.”  Now the writer is making this section very relevant. In the ancient world the war horse was supreme.   Those that rode the war horse were great conquerors and warriors.  This is who mankind would fear.  Asaph has taken us from the mountains to the mounted on horses.    We need not fear them.   With this information we can allow our fears to subside.  It is not the horse and rider or the stouthearted we need to fear.  It is God the Most High.  He destroys all those who stand in His path and He protects those who walk in His path.