A King Who Reigns with Justice

Meaning in Psalm 21

Alfred D. Byrd

DARKNESS would cover the earth today
Unless the One had given humans
Rulers to guide the people to peace.
When we see a king who reigns with justice,
Blessings will come to a land at rest.
When we see, however, a king of evil,
Going against the will of heaven,
Nothing at all appears to go well:
The people laments; the land decays.
To know a king who's right with our God
Is to find a way to peace and true wealth.

The one who deserves to hold a throne
Won't fear commitment to law and to light,
But will make a vow to guide the people
Always only in the path of truth.
The one anointed by God displays
A love for the truth, a hatred of lies.
A crown of gold is a sign to subjects:
"Honor the wearer as one with the right
To uphold the good, to punish evil."
Righteous rulers receive a reward:
For the king who bows to the King on high,
There's life and honor, the blessing of all
Who hold the Name of the One in awe.

The picture of peace is simply stated:
The will of heaven both loved and kept,
The king upholding justice for all,
The people respecting the rights of others—
Equals have peace, not masters and slaves!
The goal of a king is peace for the land,
But peace comes only through strength used well.

At times a ruler must go to war
Against a foe that threatens the land
With lies, divisions, and tools of death.
A fire will consume the land until
The foe submits to the law, or receives,
For flouting the rights of others, a grave.
The world is filled with haters of God,
And to shield the humble from men of pride—
From ones who see oppression as right
And invent smooth words to cover their wrong—
Is the work of a king who reigns with justice.

Victory over a foe means much,
But more than triumph is living at peace
Will all who honor the rule of law—
The law that comes from the Throne on high
And teaches the people to love the One
And to love as equals other humans,
All of them fashioned alike by God.

The greatest of kings is the One Whom God sent
To live with us and to share our sorrows.
Taking our sentence upon Himself,
He freed us from death and leads us to life.
The King who loved us and died in our place
Is the King Who offers a peace that will last.

Above all kings there presides the One,
Our God, the Maker of all that is.
Let's do, both subject and king, what's right
In the eyes of the One Who shaped us from dust
And gave us the breath of God for life.
Let's sing in praise of the One Who is all.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.