“And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth. Serve the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling. Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way. When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.”
The Lord then gives a prayer for world peace, a command to the nations that those that pray the Psalter will often repeat. However, it can also be taken in a personal sense, for you are the ruler of yourself, and with the Lord lowering His scepter upon your worldly desires, your heart can be free to love. “Wisdom is better than strength, and a wise man is better than a strong man” (Wisdom 6:1); “God will not except any man’s person, neither will he stand in awe of any man’s greatness: for he made the little and the great, and he hath equally care of all” (Wisdom 6:8). He looks upon both the leaders of nations and on you, with the rulers needing to know how to lead correctly, that their people may be free to love rightly and worship freely and glorify God in all things. For you, it is a call to flee vain things: “But thou, O man of God, fly these things: and pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness” (1 Timothy 6:11) and cling to the love of God alone, which is then expressed to others. Then is the call to serve the Lord with fear, but “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18): Discretion and wisdom are required for expressing love well: “The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence” (Proverbs 4:7), but having a heart that trusts your God in doing all these things is a precious gem. Therefore, the Psalmist invites you to rejoice with trembling, that is, in “speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19), without falling into recklessness. Jesus wants your heart to sing always, to be joyful and filled with praise: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4), but your words to be reverent and collected: “”Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips” (Psalm 140:3), and your life to be calm and modest: “And that you use your endeavour to be quiet, and that you do your own business” (1 Thessalonians 4:11), for “the heart of fools is in their mouth: and the mouth of wise men is in their heart” (Ecclesiasticus 21:29). The discipline of wise love is a guard upon your soul, the cherubim that guards paradise, and you are summoned to embrace it, that you may cling to love alone, and not to what fades: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world… For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). Serve God as the beloved child that you are, having the utmost respect to His ways: “My son, hear the instruction of thy father” (Proverbs 1:8), but with a loving trust that He will take care of you, support you, and love you in all things. Thus, when Jesus rises from His throne to “wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Apocalypse 21:4) and condemn those that brought these same tears, you may cling to Him fast in love, built upon a love that has been lived out in your life on earth. His plan for you is beautiful, and He will bring you to Himself in the fullest expression of yourself, that you may give yourself to Him entirely. Trust in Him, and He will be a mighty King against everything that would come between you and Him: “Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared… If thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee” (Exodus 23:20-22).