Psalm 75 celebrates the fact that the sovereign God judges the world. Those singing the psalm recognise that amazing fact as they approach him in worship. Saying his name is ‘near’ is the same as acknowledging his presence. Such a location is very suitable for mentioning his amazing actions (v.1). Having said that, we should also realise that in the presence of God we should be careful.
God speaks in response to their worship. Maybe he spoke through a prophet as they worshipped. The Lord reminded them that he has fixed the time for judgement. In order to stress his control of things, he reminds his worshippers that he holds the earth steady. Since that is the case, no one should boast in his presence (vv. 2-5). Times of worship are not the occasion to focus on the achievements of men.
Asaph then mentions an obvious deduction that comes from recognising the sovereignty of God. Any and all promotions in providence come from the Lord, as do demotions. Often, they are acts of judgement by him, with promotion indicating his approval and demotion his disapproval. When they express his disapproval, they can be accompanied by awesome features (vv. 6-8).
His awareness of this reality leads the psalmist to praise God for his interventions. He also knows that the day is coming when the Lord will promote the righteous and remove the wicked permanently. Indeed, whenever we see promotions and demotions happening, we should recognise that they point ahead to judgement day (vv. 9-10).
Sometime we wonder why wicked people seem to prosper. We forget that God has fixed a day for dealing with them. One such day is the day of judgement at the end of history, but other days of smaller divine interventions happen before that day comes. Similarly, we wonder why the righteous suffer. The answer is that God has fixed the time of their promotion, which will be partial in this life, but full on the great day.
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