Welcome to Day 2705 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Day 2705 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 83:9-18 – Daily Wisdom

Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script – Day 2705

Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2705 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.

Today’s Wisdom Nugget is titled: A Prayer for Judgment – That They May Know Your Name – Concluding Our Trek Through Psalm 83:9-18

Guthrie Chamberlain: Welcome back to Wisdom-Trek, your compass for navigating the profound landscapes of faith and life. I’m your guide, Guthrie Chamberlain, and today, we reach the powerful and climactic conclusion of our trek through Psalm 83 in the New Living Translation, encompassing its final verses, 9 through 18.

In our last conversation, we plunged into the heart of a national crisis described in Psalm 83:1-8. We heard Asaph, the psalmist, plead with a seemingly silent God: “O God, do not remain silent!” He revealed a malicious conspiracy of nations with “a single purpose: to enter into a treaty against you” and a chilling goal to “wipe out Israel as a nation.” He presented to God a coalition of Israel’s historical enemies, allied with the powerful Assyria, a threat so formidable that human intervention seemed utterly futile. It was a desperate prayer for God, the ultimate Judge, to break His silence and act.

Now, in this concluding section, Asaph moves from a description of the conspiracy to a fervent, imprecatory prayer for God to act decisively against these enemies. He appeals to God to perform a new act of salvation that is as legendary and devastating as His great victories of the past. The goal of this prayer is not just for Israel’s survival, but for God’s name to be universally known and glorified as a result of His righteous judgment.

So, let’s listen to this powerful and passionate prayer for a divine repeat of history, leading to an ultimate revelation of God’s sovereignty.

• A Prayer for History to Repeat Itself

(Reads Psalm 83:9-12 NLT)

Do to them as you did to the Midianites, or to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River. They were destroyed at Endor, and their bodies were left to fertilize the ground. Let their princes die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their rulers die like Zebah and Zalmunna. For they said, “Let us seize for ourselves the pasturelands of God!”

Guthrie Chamberlain: The psalmist begins his imprecation with a specific, historical plea, asking God to act as He has in the past: “Do to them as you did to the Midianites, or to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.” This is a powerful and theologically sound strategy in prayer. When we face a new crisis, we can look to God’s past acts of faithfulness and power as a basis for our present requests. Asaph is not asking God to do something new; he’s asking Him to be the same God He has always been.

The Midianites were defeated by God through the leadership of Gideon, a victory so decisive that it became a standard for divine intervention (Judges 7). It was a miraculous victory where a small army of 300, armed with trumpets, pitchers, and torches, routed a vast Midianite army, with God causing the Midianites to turn their swords on each other.

The defeat of Sisera and Jabin, mentioned in the very next line, was another famous, divinely-orchestrated victory (Judges 4). It was a battle where God sent a flash flood at the Kishon River, bogging down Sisera’s iron chariots and allowing Israel to defeat his formidable army. The psalmist wants God to perform a new act of salvation that is just as miraculous and decisive as these.

The aftermath of that victory is grimly recalled: “They were destroyed at Endor, and their bodies were left to fertilize the ground.” Endor was a town near where the battle with Sisera and Jabin took place. The psalmist recalls that their defeat was so utter and complete that their bodies were not even given a proper burial, an ultimate act of dishonor in the ancient world, but were left “to fertilize the ground.” This is the fate the psalmist desires for the current enemies—a total and dishonorable defeat.

The prayer then becomes even more specific, naming the leaders of the Midianites: “Let their princes die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their rulers die like Zebah and Zalmunna.” Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna were the kings and princes of the Midianites who were all captured and killed by Gideon and his men. By naming these specific leaders, the psalmist is asking God to not just defeat the armies, but to bring about the complete downfall of the current leaders who have conspired against Israel. He is asking for a comprehensive divine judgment that starts at the very top.

The justification for this prayer is then given in the malicious ambition of the enemies: “For they said, ‘Let us seize for ourselves the pasturelands of God!'” This is the ultimate affront. The enemies’ goal is not just territorial expansion, but the seizure of “the pasturelands of God,” which refers to the Promised Land, Israel’s inheritance. This land belonged to God (Leviticus 25:23), and the enemies’ desire to seize it was a direct challenge to God’s ownership and sovereignty. The psalmist is essentially saying, “They are coming to steal what is Yours, Lord. You must act to defend Your own property.” This again ties the national struggle to God’s own honor and cause.

This section models a fervent prayer for God to act in the present by remembering His past acts of salvation, a profound expression of faith that God is an unchanging God who is able to perform new wonders just as He did in the past.

• The Finality of Judgment and the Purpose of Shame

(Reads Psalm 83:13-18 NLT)

O my God, make them like tumbleweeds, like chaff blown by the wind. As a fire burns a forest and a flame blazes through the mountains, pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm. Fill their faces with shame so they will seek your name, O Lord. May they always be humiliated and filled with terror. May they die in shame. Then they will learn that you alone are the Lord, the Most High over all the earth.

Guthrie Chamberlain: The psalmist now uses vivid, devastating imagery from the natural world to describe the judgment he prays for: “O my God, make them like tumbleweeds, like chaff blown by the wind.” Tumbleweeds and chaff are dry, light, and completely at the mercy of the wind. They are utterly without substance, without purpose, and they are easily scattered. This is a prayer for the enemies, for all their pride and power, to be rendered so insignificant and insubstantial that they are simply swept away by God’s power, leaving no trace behind. This stands in stark contrast to their goal of wiping out the memory of Israel (v. 4).

The prayer for judgment continues with even more destructive imagery: “As a fire burns a forest and a flame blazes through the mountains, pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.” Fire in a dry forest is uncontrollable and consumes everything in its path. A “tempest” (supha) is a hurricane-force wind, and a “storm” (se’ara) is a terrifying whirlwind. The psalmist is asking for God, the master of all these natural forces, to unleash them upon the enemy. He wants the enemies to be consumed by a divine fire, to be scattered and pursued by God’s own storms, filled with terror. This is a prayer for an overwhelming, apocalyptic judgment that leaves no doubt about the source of their destruction.

And what is the ultimate goal of this terrifying judgment? The psalmist’s prayer becomes profoundly theological: “Fill their faces with shame so they will seek your name, O Lord.” This is a crucial turning point. The ultimate purpose of the judgment is not just their annihilation, but their conversion. The “shame” that fills their faces is meant to be a holy shame, a recognition of their utter foolishness in opposing God, leading them to “seek your name, O Lord.” This is a prayer for their humiliation to lead to their salvation, for the very people who had been conspiring to destroy God’s people to be so humbled that they would finally turn to Him.

However, the psalmist immediately follows this with a request for their continued humiliation and terror, a kind of conditional prayer: “May they always be humiliated and filled with terror. May they die in shame.” This can be interpreted as a prayer for the unrepentant. If their humiliation does not lead them to seek God’s name, then let their humiliation be permanent. Let them “die in shame,” suffering the ultimate ignominy of a life lived in rebellion against God. The psalm holds these two possibilities in tension: the possibility of repentance born from shame, and the certainty of continued shame and death for the unrepentant.

The psalm concludes with the powerful and glorious reason for this entire prayer for judgment: “Then they will learn that you alone are the Lord, the Most High over all the earth.” This is the climax of the entire psalm, the ultimate purpose for God’s intervention. Asaph doesn’t ask God to do this for Israel’s glory, but for God’s own glory. The world, the enemies, the nations that conspired against Israel—they will “learn” (yada, to know intimately) that God is the one true sovereign. The titles used are significant: “the Lord” (Yahweh), the covenant name of God, and “the Most High” (Elyon), a name signifying His supreme authority over all creation. It’s a prayer for the universal recognition of God’s unmatched authority.

Psalm 83, in its entirety, is a fervent plea for God’s justice against a specific conspiracy of nations. It moves from a desperate cry to a silent God to a confident prayer for God to repeat His ancient wonders, culminating in the hope that His righteous judgment will lead to the universal recognition of His supreme name and glory.

What profound wisdom can we draw from these concluding verses for our Wisdom-Trek today?

Firstly, this psalm teaches us to pray with confidence, anchoring our present pleas in the undeniable reality of God’s past faithfulness and power. Our God is not a God who is powerless; He is the same God who defeated Midian and the chariots of Sisera.

Secondly, the psalm reminds us that God’s judgment is not always just about punishment; it can also be redemptive. The hope that the enemies’ shame might lead them to seek God’s name is a powerful testament to God’s ultimate desire for all to know Him.

Thirdly, this psalm gives a profound purpose to our prayers for justice. We are to pray that God will act so decisively against wickedness that His power and His glory are so manifest that all the world, even His enemies, will be forced to acknowledge that “you alone are the Lord.”

Finally, this psalm gives us a powerful framework for trusting in God’s universal sovereignty. We know that He is “the Most High over all the earth.” No matter what nations conspire, or what threats we face, we can rest secure in the knowledge that God’s righteous judgment is certain, and His name will ultimately be glorified over all.

Let us, like Asaph, bring our prayers for justice to the God who is both the righteous Judge and the ultimate Redeemer, trusting that He will act for His name’s sake and lead the nations to a knowledge of His supreme glory.

Guthrie Chamberlain: If you found this podcast insightful, subscribe and leave us a review, then encourage your friends and family to join us and come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal. As we take this Trek together, let us always: Live Abundantly (Fully) Love Unconditionally Listen Intentionally Learn Continuously Lend to others Generously Lead with Integrity Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ‘Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday! See you next time for more daily wisdom!