Psalm 75 is a good psalm to dig into to learn how to pray because it has a raw, honest flow that mixes gratitude, trust, and handing things over to God. It’s less a formula and more of a vibe you can lean into when you’re talking to God.
It teaches us that we don’t have to curse people, but we can ask for justice to prevail. It’s about trusting God because He’s the one who sorts it all out and gives righteous justice.
Psalm 75 starts by giving God thanks, then leans into trust and then asks God to do what is fair. If we stick with prayer justice will come. It’s less about coming to Him with perfect words, and more about keeping an open line between you and God.
As I’ve studied this scripture this week I’ve learned more insight. In Psalm 75:2-5 God said “At this time I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and its inhabitants. It is I who keep it steady. I say to the boastful, do not boast, and to the wicked, do not lift up your horn, do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with a stiff neck.”
Here we see a promise, a reassurance, and a warning:
- The promise: the promise is that God will judge all men, the wicked and the righteous fairly -with equity.
- The reassurance: the reassurance is that when things on earth seems shaky and unstable, God is the steady force which keeps everything from falling apart he will not allow corrupting men to ruin what He needs to sustain.
- The warning: the warning was directed towards corrupt who want to exalt themselves and pride and flex their perceived strength, which is a delusion.
Asaph in this Psalm knew that strength wasn’t achieved through the minds of men, but through the power of God.
it is God executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another (Psalm 75:7).
Psalm 75:8 show us a interesting illustration, picturing God holding a cup of foaming wine. God is going to make the wicked drink the entire glass, all the way down to the drags, and it would steal their fate. Think about after you have drank coffee from a percolator and notice the dregs of a percolator coffee and see the fine coffee grounds that settle at the bottom of the cup. The dregs are the unwanted residue of coffee grounds or something that settle at the bottom of the cup or glass. God is saying the foaming wine will seal their fate. I think the true expression of this illustration is probably that the wine was fermented, and the meaning may be that the wrath of God seems to boil like fermenting liquor.
the hottie and corrupt we’re going to have to drink from the cup of God’s wrath. Psalm 75 ends with Asaph worshiping God for his inequitable judgment. God was going to cut off the horn of the wicked and promote His faithful people.
Can you imagine God sitting the most powerful people in the world down at His table -presidents and billionaires forcing them to drink a glass of His wrath against their will. In life, these people obeyed only themselves, they were ruled on earth, but God will sit them down like little children at the dinner table and make them finish what He has put in front of them. All of us must drink from a cup, and God allows us to choose from which cup we drink.
God’s cup of wrath awaits those who refused to submit to Him on earth. But Jesus poured another cup for those who wish to drink from God‘s grace.
He showed us His last supper with His disciples.
“He took the bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me,” likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” – Luke 22:19-20 (paraphrased).
This text records Jesus instituting the Last Supper, which is a Jeus meal. I like to call it “the meal that heals.” It’s a meal Jesus’s followers can eat to remember His death.
The cup and its contents remind people that He gave on the cross to forgive sins. This is a cup for humble people to remember the humble Savior. We can come to His table willingly to acknowledge our dependence on God.
We all have a choice. Come to the table willingly to drink the sweet cup of God’s grace or be forced to the table to receive a very different drink.
From Pity to Praise 