I think a lot about the kind of life I want to live. Every day I make choices so that I can have a good life. And as I get older, I think more about death. So, I eat healthier and exercise more to (hopefully) delay death. I believe most people are like me. But most days, I forget to give much thought to what comes next. Hebrews 9:27 says, ″People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment″. Psalm 75 forces us to face the issue of impending judgment.

Psalm 74 posed the question, ″How long will the enemy mock you, God?″ (Psalm 74:10). Psalm 75 gives an answer, ″I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity″ (75:2). One day, the mockery of the wicked will be silenced.

The psalm opens in praise of God, who is near to His people (v. 1). However, the chief cause for praise is that God has chosen the appointed time to judge the wicked with equity (v. 2). The apostle Paul echoed these thoughts when he announced to the people in Athens that, ″(God) has set a day when he will judge the world with justice″ (Acts 17:31).

Evil and injustice is not how things are meant to be. A world full of wickedness without justice and punishment is like a machine that isn't working properly. One day God will fix this. His judgment will make things right again and put things back on a firm foundation (Psalm 75:3).

The psalmist describes the wicked as arrogant, almost defying God to judge them (v. 5). He describes God's wrath as a cup full of His foaming anger about to be poured out on the ungodly (v. 8). This is a common biblical metaphor for God's judgment (see Psalm 60:3; Jeremiah 25:15-38; Nahum 1:10). In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that God would take away this cup from Him (Matthew 26:39). This was the cup of God's wrath for our sins that Jesus knew He would bear on the cross. Jesus drank this cup so that we who've trusted Him will never face God's wrath. But for those who have not trusted Christ, on God's appointed day, they ″will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath″ (Revelation 14:10).

A woman at my church once confessed to me that she was scared of judgment. I assured her that, if she has trusted Christ, then she has nothing to fear. For the believer, judgment day is a day that will mark our passing from this fallen world into the bliss and joy of eternal life in God's presence.