Psalm Chapter 75

Psalm 75: The Cup in His Hand

There is a moment in this psalm that ought to make every reader sit up straight. "For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same." The image is not decorative. It is the cup of judgment — mixed, potent, inevitable — and the wicked will drink it to the dregs. What makes the psalm remarkable, though, is not the warning but the calm. Asaph is not panicking about the state of the world; he is resting in the architecture of it. "Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another." The compass has been surveyed in three directions, and the fourth — the direction of God — is the only one that matters. When the earth dissolves and its inhabitants tremble, it is God who bears up the pillars. The fools who lift their horns in arrogance are performing for an audience that is not impressed. The righteous need only wait, and sing.

00:00 Unto Thee Do We Give Thanks
01:00 The Cup of the Lord