Psalm 68:7-18

When you, God, went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor. The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng: “Kings and armies flee in haste; the women at home divide the plunder. Even while you sleep among the sheep pens, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.” When the Almighty[c] scattered the kings in the land, it was like snow fallen on Mount Zalmon. Mount Bashan, majestic mountain, Mount Bashan, rugged mountain, why gaze in envy, you rugged mountain, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the Lord himself will dwell forever? The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary. When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious—that you, Lord God, might dwell there.

This commemorates the exodus and the journey to the promised land. God fought for his people and ascended his throne when the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the tabernacle on Mount Zion (2 Samuel 6:12,17). Paul saw this as a picture of a greater ascension in which Christ delivers us from sin and death and then shares with us the gifts of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:7-16; Acts 2:33). We activate these gifts by using the Bible as a weapon in our warfare with temptation and doubt (Ephesians 6:10-20). If we do, we will find that God still fights for us.
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