Psalms 76:1-12: in context

This psalm exalts God as the awesome judge before whom no power can stand. In Zion he breaks the weapons of war; at his rebuke the horse and chariot lie stunned; the strong lie plundered, none of the men of war able to lift a hand. Who can stand before you when you are angry? the psalmist asks. And then comes a striking line about the opposition arrayed against God: surely the wrath of man shall praise you, and the remainder of wrath you will restrain. Even human wrath, in the end, serves God's praise, and what he does not use he holds back.

The line worth pondering is this: surely the wrath of man shall praise you, and the remainder of wrath you will restrain. It makes a remarkable claim about the anger and opposition of people against God and his purposes. Human wrath, the hostility of those who oppose God and his people, does not thwart him; in the end, it serves his praise. God so overrules the opposition arrayed against him that even the wrath of his enemies is turned to accomplish his glory. And what would go beyond his purpose, the remainder of wrath, he restrains, holding it back so that it cannot overwhelm. Neither the wrath he uses nor the wrath he restrains escapes his control. This is a deep assurance for those who face opposition to God and his people. The hostility arrayed against God, against his church, against his purposes, can seem to threaten to overwhelm and undo his work. But this psalm assures us that God overrules even human wrath, turning it to serve his purposes and his praise, and restraining what would go too far. The opposition does not thwart God; it is made, in the end, to accomplish his glory. When Joseph's brothers meant evil against him, God meant it for good, to save many lives; the wrath of man served God's saving purpose. When the rulers conspired against Jesus, they did, the apostles said, only what God's hand had foreordained; even that greatest wrath accomplished God's saving plan. The wrath of man praises God; his enemies' hostility serves his purposes. This steadies us when opposition seems to threaten God's work. The anger and hostility arrayed against God and his people are real, but they are not beyond his control; he overrules them, turning them to serve his purposes and praise, and restrains what would overwhelm. We need not fear that the wrath of God's enemies will undo his work; it will, in the end, serve his glory, as the wrath against Joseph and against Christ served God's saving purposes. This calls us to trust God's sovereignty over the opposition arrayed against him. The wrath of man shall praise God, and the remainder of wrath he restrains; and when we see hostility against God and his people, we may trust that God overrules it, turning even the wrath of his enemies to serve his purposes and his praise, and restraining what would go too far, so that the opposition does not thwart his work but is made, in the end, to accomplish his glory.

When I see anger and hostility arrayed against God and his people, threatening to overwhelm his work, do I fear that the wrath of his enemies will undo his purposes, or can the psalm's assurance that surely the wrath of man shall praise God and the remainder of wrath he restrains, together with how the wrath against Joseph and against Christ served God's saving purposes, move me to trust that God overrules even human wrath to serve his glory and restrains what would go too far, so that the opposition does not thwart his work but accomplishes his praise?