Psalms 75:7

In Psalm 75 Messiah speaks, though the psalm begins with the remnant thanking God for wonderful works He has already done. Then God's judgments bring Messiah into the kingdom. He receives the congregation of Israel, and then comes upright judgment. The earth is dissolved in guilt and confusion, and Messiah upholds its pillars. In the verses that follow He warns the wicked and the despisers of God not to exalt themselves, for God is the Judge; He puts up and puts down.

It is the announcement by God Himself that, in His set time, God will judge uprightly. We are often impatient for God to deal with evil. God, however, has His set time — when evil is ripe, and His people have learned their lesson — for stepping in with judgment.

"Promotion" is a poor and misleading translation. The word is 'lifting up,' and continues the thought of verses 4 and 5. It is not the idea of raising a person to a place of prominence. It is the deliverance of the crushed by lifting them up out of the dust. The same expression appears again in verse 10, where the word 'exalted' should be translated 'lifted up.' This thought of lifting up runs through verses 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10. The north is not mentioned. One suggestion is that the enemy who attacks the land of Israel comes from that direction, so no help would be looked for from the north. The people of God have to learn that help does not come from any quarter of the earth. It comes from God: it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

In other directions help might possibly be found; but in fact it is not coming from any point of the compass. God is coming in: "for God it is that judges; He abases one and exalts another."

Verse 7 says that "it is God who executes judgment," and this God, their King, is of course Christ. He knows how to put one down and lift another up. His judgment will sort people exactly. He brings down those who exalt themselves and lifts up those who have been humbled.

In the second half of the psalm we find Him as the "faithful Witness," the Representative of God on earth, testifying for God. As Judge He lifts up and brings down, in keeping with grace and holiness alike.

He rules or over-rules the hearts of all people. He rules the whole realm of human thought and action. He rules public opinion in all its forms, at all times, with all the characters great and small who appear in it. So He orders the rise and fall of nations, the course of their histories and the size of their territories. The way human history unfolds proves that God governs it, in events and in morals, as clearly as the heavens prove His power and glory. "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He will." (Prov. 21:1.)

Let us remember what Scripture says: "For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another" (Ps. 75:6-7). Yet He does not do it at random, or without regard to fitness or merit. No, His sovereignty does not set aside the question of moral fitness or proper preparation in those He is pleased to advance in His service.