Psalm 83:1-8  O God, do not keep quiet: let your lips be open and take no rest, O God.  For see! those who make war on you are out of control; your haters are lifting up their heads.  They have made wise designs against your people, talking together against those whom you keep in a secret place.  They have said, Come, let us put an end to them as a nation; so that the name of Israel may go out of man’s memory.  For they have all come to an agreement; they are all joined together against you:  The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; Gebal and Ammon and Amalek; the Philistines and the people of Tyre; Assur is joined with them; they have become the support of the children of Lot. – Basic English Translation

Sometimes God seems not to be too concerned at the unjust treatment of his people. But then we may call upon him, as the psalmist does here. The God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can answer; the god of Abraham and Ishmael does not and cannot answer.  All who do not obey the God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are His enemies, whether they realize it or not.

The Lord’s people are his hidden one; the world understands them not.  He, the one true God, the God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the one true God and He it is who takes them under His special protection.  Do the enemies of the Lord’s church act with one consent to destroy it, and shall not the friends of the church be united?  They are wicked men who wish that there might be no Jewish or Christian religion among mankind. They would gladly see all its restraints shaken off, and all that preach, profess, or practice it, cut off. This they would bring to pass if it were within their power. The enemies of God’s church have always been many: this magnifies the power of the Lord in preserving to himself a church in the world.

Psalm 83: 9-18 Do to them what you did to the Midianites; what you did to Sisera and Jabin, at the stream of Kishon: Who came to destruction at En-dor; their bodies became dust and waste.  Make their chiefs like Oreb and Zeeb; and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna:  Who have said, Let us take for our heritage the resting-place of God.  O my God, make them like the rolling dust; like dry stems before the wind.  As fire burning a wood, and as a flame causing fire on the mountains, So go after them with your strong wind, and let them be full of fear because of your storm.  Let their faces be full of shame; so that they may give honour to your name, O Lord.  Let them be overcome and troubled for ever; let them be put to shame and come to destruction;  So that men may see that you only, whose name is Yahweh, are Most High over all the earth. – Basic English Translation

All who oppose the kingdom of The Christ may here read their doom.  God is the same still that ever he was; the same to his people (the Jews and the Christians), and the same against His and their enemies. God would make their enemies like a tumbleweed; unsettled in all their counsels and resolves. Not only let them be driven away as stubble, but burnt as stubble.  And this will be the end of those who oppose the God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  His resting place is Jerusalem.  The resting place of Allah and the Black Stone is Mecca, therefore be happy and no longer jealous lest what you have be taken away also.

Lord God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob let them be made to fear Thy holy name, and perhaps that will bring them to seek Thy name. We know we should desire no confusion to our enemies and persecutors but what may bring about their conversion. The stormy tempest of Divine vengeance will overtake them, unless they repent and seek the pardoning mercy of the one true God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God’s triumphs over his enemies, clearly prove that he is, according to his name YAHWEH, the almighty Being, who has all power and perfection in Himself.  May we fear His wrath, and yield ourselves to be His willing servants that we may know the comfort of His Love and the joy of His salvation so freely provided by His glorious hand.

–Pastor Ward Clinton