Psalm 110: “Long to reign over us…”

By Dave Priest

Psalm 110 (NIV)


This weekend has seen a landmark in the life of our royal family, the Queen has been sat on the throne for 60 years and by the looks of things she is still going strong! We’ve had a weekend of flotillas of little boats, pomp and ceremony, parties and church ceremonies. People up and down the country and from around the world have paid tribute to a remarkable woman who is getting closer to becoming the longest reigning British monarch in history but what does it all mean?

In the words of our well-known national anthem:

“Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen!” 

The Queen will eventually die! People sing prayers that she will reign for a long time and that God will save her but the reality is that her reign will end! Her place in history, whilst secure, will be assured when she dies and is consigned only to the history books.

In contrast to this, David speaks in the Psalm of a King who is “a priest forever” (v4). This King that David is speaking about is Jesus. Whilst we admire a Queen who has reigned well for many years we need not to forget that we worship a King who will reign forever and will crush all of His enemies.

One of the recurring things that is said about our Queen is that she has spent her life working for and serving this nation but we worship a God who gave His life for His people.

Whilst it’s not wrong to honour the Queen for her service and commitment to this nation, we need to daily honour and worship the God who has saved us from our sins and in doing so has taken us from being enemies of the King to being called His friend.

What a terrible place to be as an enemy of God but what an amazing place to be called His friend!