Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
Psalm 76:10 celebrates God’s absolute rule over hostile men. Asaph’s psalm has described God breaking the weapons of war, rebuking the mighty, casting down chariot and horse, and arising to judgment to save all the meek of the earth (vv.3-9). Verse 10 gives the principle beneath those victories: even human wrath cannot escape His government. Men may rage against God and His people, but their rage will serve His praise. What He uses advances His glory; what would go beyond His purpose He restrains.
“Surely.” The verse begins with certainty. This is not hopeful speculation about whether God might somehow recover good from human evil. Asaph is sure that the wrath of man will praise God. Men intend one thing; God rules the outcome. Pharaoh raged against Israel, yet God said, “And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth” (Exodus 9:16). Joseph’s brethren thought evil against him, but God meant it unto good (Genesis 50:20). Human intention is real and guilt remains real, but divine government is higher.
“The wrath of man.” Wrath is anger carried into hostility, violence, revenge, and destructive purpose. The psalm speaks of kings and armies resisting God, and it has already asked, “Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?” (v.7). Human wrath appears fierce until it is compared with divine wrath. Man can hate, threaten, persecute, and kill, but he is still man. “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect” (Psalm 33:10).
This wrath may be directed against God directly or against His servants. Saul of Tarsus was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1). Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex the church and killed James with the sword (Acts 12:1-2). Yet neither man escaped divine rule. Saul was stopped and made Christ’s servant (Acts 9:3-6); Herod was smitten when he accepted divine honour (Acts 12:21-23). The wrath of man never outruns the throne of God.
“Shall praise thee.” This is the astonishing clause. Man’s wrath does not intend to praise God, yet God makes it serve that end. Pharaoh did not resist Moses to glorify Jehovah, but his resistance became the stage on which God displayed judgment and deliverance. This does not excuse wickedness. The men remain guilty for what they intended and did. Divine rule over sin never makes sin righteous. God remains holy while using the rebellion of men to accomplish purposes they neither desired nor understood.
The cross is the greatest demonstration. Men hated Jesus Christ without a cause, falsely accused Him, mocked Him, and crucified Him. Yet their wrath became the occasion of God’s greatest display of righteousness, mercy, and wisdom. Peter preached, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23). The church confessed that Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatsoever God’s hand and counsel determined before to be done (Acts 4:27-28). Man’s wrath praised God without becoming innocent.
This truth should remove panic from the heart of the righteous. Enemies may be real, their hatred intense, and their plans dangerous. Yet they cannot force God to react helplessly to events He did not foresee. He rules before they act, while they act, and after they act. Their wrath may hurt deeply, but it never becomes independent power. “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psalm 115:3). Men act willingly and are accountable, but they never become lords over outcomes.
“The remainder of wrath.” The phrase now considers wrath beyond what God uses for His purpose. Men may intend more evil than they are able to perform. They imagine the full measure of their hatred will become action, but God sets the boundary. Laban pursued Jacob with hostile intent, but God came to him in a dream and charged him to speak not to Jacob either good or bad (Genesis 31:24). Saul sought David every day, but God delivered him not into his hand (I Samuel 23:14). Human wrath had plans; God had limits.
This is especially comforting because saints often fear not only what enemies are doing but what they might do. Psalm 76:10 answers both. What men perform is under God’s rule, and what they intend beyond His purpose is under His restraint. The saint does not need to imagine that every evil possibility will become reality.
“Shalt thou restrain.” God restrains. He can prevent the act, confuse the plan, divide the conspirators, remove opportunity, weaken strength, expose secrecy, or end the life of the wicked. Human anger is not self-limiting; God limits it. This restraint may be invisible until afterward. Joseph did not know in the pit how far his brethren would go. The disciples did not know how Christ’s arrest would end until the resurrection. Yet divine restraint was never absent because it was not understood beforehand.
Jesus Christ gives the fullest confidence in this doctrine. His enemies could do nothing before His hour: “Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come” (John 7:30). Even at the cross their power remained beneath God’s. Before Pilate it is written, “Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19:11). Pilate’s authority was real, his guilt real, and God’s higher rule absolute.
Do not pretend that the wrath of wicked men is harmless, but do not magnify it into independent power. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1). Trust the God who rules wrath itself, and refuse to fear men as though their anger could escape His hand.
Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
Psalm 76:10 celebrates God’s absolute rule over hostile men. Asaph’s psalm has described God breaking the weapons of war, rebuking the mighty, casting down chariot and horse, and arising to judgment to save all the meek of the earth (vv.3-9). Verse 10 gives the principle beneath those victories: even human wrath cannot escape His government. Men may rage against God and His people, but their rage will serve His praise. What He uses advances His glory; what would go beyond His purpose He restrains.
“Surely.” The verse begins with certainty. This is not hopeful speculation about whether God might somehow recover good from human evil. Asaph is sure that the wrath of man will praise God. Men intend one thing; God rules the outcome. Pharaoh raged against Israel, yet God said, “And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth” (Exodus 9:16). Joseph’s brethren thought evil against him, but God meant it unto good (Genesis 50:20). Human intention is real and guilt remains real, but divine government is higher.
“The wrath of man.” Wrath is anger carried into hostility, violence, revenge, and destructive purpose. The psalm speaks of kings and armies resisting God, and it has already asked, “Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?” (v.7). Human wrath appears fierce until it is compared with divine wrath. Man can hate, threaten, persecute, and kill, but he is still man. “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect” (Psalm 33:10).
This wrath may be directed against God directly or against His servants. Saul of Tarsus was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1). Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex the church and killed James with the sword (Acts 12:1-2). Yet neither man escaped divine rule. Saul was stopped and made Christ’s servant (Acts 9:3-6); Herod was smitten when he accepted divine honour (Acts 12:21-23). The wrath of man never outruns the throne of God.
“Shall praise thee.” This is the astonishing clause. Man’s wrath does not intend to praise God, yet God makes it serve that end. Pharaoh did not resist Moses to glorify Jehovah, but his resistance became the stage on which God displayed judgment and deliverance. This does not excuse wickedness. The men remain guilty for what they intended and did. Divine rule over sin never makes sin righteous. God remains holy while using the rebellion of men to accomplish purposes they neither desired nor understood.
The cross is the greatest demonstration. Men hated Jesus Christ without a cause, falsely accused Him, mocked Him, and crucified Him. Yet their wrath became the occasion of God’s greatest display of righteousness, mercy, and wisdom. Peter preached, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23). The church confessed that Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatsoever God’s hand and counsel determined before to be done (Acts 4:27-28). Man’s wrath praised God without becoming innocent.
This truth should remove panic from the heart of the righteous. Enemies may be real, their hatred intense, and their plans dangerous. Yet they cannot force God to react helplessly to events He did not foresee. He rules before they act, while they act, and after they act. Their wrath may hurt deeply, but it never becomes independent power. “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psalm 115:3). Men act willingly and are accountable, but they never become lords over outcomes.
“The remainder of wrath.” The phrase now considers wrath beyond what God uses for His purpose. Men may intend more evil than they are able to perform. They imagine the full measure of their hatred will become action, but God sets the boundary. Laban pursued Jacob with hostile intent, but God came to him in a dream and charged him to speak not to Jacob either good or bad (Genesis 31:24). Saul sought David every day, but God delivered him not into his hand (I Samuel 23:14). Human wrath had plans; God had limits.
This is especially comforting because saints often fear not only what enemies are doing but what they might do. Psalm 76:10 answers both. What men perform is under God’s rule, and what they intend beyond His purpose is under His restraint. The saint does not need to imagine that every evil possibility will become reality.
“Shalt thou restrain.” God restrains. He can prevent the act, confuse the plan, divide the conspirators, remove opportunity, weaken strength, expose secrecy, or end the life of the wicked. Human anger is not self-limiting; God limits it. This restraint may be invisible until afterward. Joseph did not know in the pit how far his brethren would go. The disciples did not know how Christ’s arrest would end until the resurrection. Yet divine restraint was never absent because it was not understood beforehand.
Jesus Christ gives the fullest confidence in this doctrine. His enemies could do nothing before His hour: “Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come” (John 7:30). Even at the cross their power remained beneath God’s. Before Pilate it is written, “Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19:11). Pilate’s authority was real, his guilt real, and God’s higher rule absolute.
Do not pretend that the wrath of wicked men is harmless, but do not magnify it into independent power. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1). Trust the God who rules wrath itself, and refuse to fear men as though their anger could escape His hand.