I’ll use Psalms 31:1-3a and 8:1

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, thinking about the joy running across the globe over the death of a tyrant. The Spirit brought a couple of verses to my mind that He has spoken to me with much over the past few years:

Psalms 120:7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

Psalms 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Proverbs 28:28 ¶ When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.

Psalms 58:10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

Proverbs 11:10 ¶ When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. (The word shouting signifies rejoicing, gladness, singing, and triumph.)

Proverbs 29:2 ¶ When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

Psalms 58:11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.

This is the work of the Divinely appointed sword of justice: God-ordained powers “are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. … For he is the minister of God to thee for good. … for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Romans 13:3-4 excerpted).

Along the still waters, I reflected on God’s interaction with mankind through rulers. First, within the Godhead, we see authority-subordinate roles and interaction: GOD is One, illustrated in the fact that we baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). One name, for the Lord our God is One LORD, three persons, because God is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4 ¶ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.”*

God chooses a nation and a man to execute His judgments in the earth. I’ll discuss this more this coming Wednesday service, Lord willing! (Wednesday, March 4, 2026)

When the righteous use the sword to execute God’s wrath upon evil doers and in that work He destroys some wicked tyrant, there is shouting. That is to be expected. The “people” rejoice when the wicked perish. The righteous increase and flourish when the wicked perish. The execution of justice inspires the people to see the true hand of GOD: “So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth” (Psalms 58:11).

In the valley, I knelt before the “Captain of the LORD’s host,” Whose sword is in His hand, and like Joshua, I fell to my face before Him: “And he said, … as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? (Joshua 5:14 ). Hear Him: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil, filled my cup with His grace, and nodded to goodness and mercy, who followed us into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v76izrc-shepherds-pasture.html

[*Deuteronomy 6:4 literally says God is a plural unity: the word LORD translates the name—Yhvh (pronounced with a breath, in English, Jehovah—Exodus 6:3; see Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2, 26:4), the word God is Elohim, a plural form, that, when used to identify the created gods is translated in the plural form, gods (Genesis 3:5; 31:30-32; 35:2-4; Exodus 12:12; 15:11; 18:11; 20:3; 22:28; 23:13, 24, 32-33; 32:1, 4, 8, 23, 31; and more than a hundred more), but when used to identify the Creator, it is translated in its singular form: God. The word translated “one” is the common term in Hebrew, אֶחָֽד — echad, and it has a nuanced meaning: beginning with the emphatic exclusion of all else, a singular that has no other equal or equivalent, a perfect and complete unity, one set apart from all else, first in rank. It is also used to identify one item, or a passing day, or the first element in a numbered sequence or set, as in Genesis 1:5, “first day” in a sequence of seven. Genesis 2:21, or removing “one” of Adam’s set of ribs). The word signifies one in number and in rank. The LORD our God is one Lord.

Within the Godhead, the Father is over the Son, and the Son is over the Spirit. The fulness of the Godhead, or God, is the “Head” of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3). There is no vying for power within the Godhead, beautifully demonstrated by Christ (the title of the Second Person) willingly giving up His place as “equal with God” and becoming a man (Philippians 2:5-11). Jesus is God manifest in flesh (John 1:1, 14; 1 Timothy 2:16).

GOD has ordained the powers and principalities, and dominions. He puts His sword into the hand of the “nation” of His choosing (Matthew 21:43), and elevates His chosen sword bearer to execute His wrath upon the wicked (e.g., Judges 7:20—Gideon; Exodus 30:24—Nebuchadnezzar; sometimes pestilence — 1 Chronicles 21:12—when the Angel of the LORD is dispatched). Jeremiah cried: “O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still” (Jeremiah 47:6).]