Psalm Chapter 2

Psalm 2: The Laughter in Heaven

There is a sound in this psalm that we rarely let ourselves hear: the laughter of God. The nations rage, the kings take counsel, the rulers plot their small rebellions against a throne they can neither see nor reach — and the one who sitteth in the heavens laughs. Not a cruel laugh, I think, but the laugh of someone watching a child solemnly declare war on the ocean. The scene is almost comic, until you remember how much of human history has been spent on precisely this errand: breaking bands, casting away cords, arranging ourselves into councils against a love we have mistaken for tyranny. And then the psalm pivots, gently but without apology, and tells us what to do with the news that our rebellions are futile. Not despair. Not cynicism. "Kiss the Son." Come close to the very one you had resolved to fight. "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him" — the rebels, it turns out, were invited home all along.

00:00 Why Do the Heathen Rage
00:20 He That Sitteth in the Heavens Shall Laugh
00:40 Thou Art My Son
01:00 Kiss the Son, Put Your Trust in Him