Have you ever heard people talk about the ″victorious Christian life″? They usually mean that Christians can have victory over sin and temptation, see fruits in our ministries, experience blessing in our family life, and enjoy continual joy and peace. But when we read the Psalms, the picture is often different. The one who is victorious is God and the ones who share in His victory are weak, poor, and oppressed.

Like Psalm 68, this psalm praises God for being the Warrior who fights for His people. It appears that Jerusalem has been under attack. But the Lord has come to her defence and wonderfully defeated her enemy, because Zion was where He had chosen to dwell with His people (76:1-2).

The psalmist describes the splendour of his God. He's like a mountain–strong and immovable (v. 4). No-one can stand before such a God in battle. Interestingly, no mention is made of Israel contributing to their victory. It seems that they only had to stand back and watch God make ″both horse and chariot lie still″ (v. 6).

Asaph describes the victorious people as ″the afflicted of the land″ (v. 9). This term describes a group of people who are weak, oppressed, helpless, persecuted, and desperate. Yet, these are the victorious people of God.

There are two important lessons here for us. The Bible makes more of the victorious God than His victorious people. We have victory over sin because ″our old self was crucified with him . . . that we should no longer be slaves to sin″ (Romans 6:6). We have victory over Satan because Christ has disarmed the powers and authorities (Colossians 2:15). Christ conquered death so God ″gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ″ (1 Corinthians 15:57). Every victory we enjoy has been won for us by our Warrior King.

Second, the psalmist describes the ″victorious″ Christian in the same way as apostle Paul. Speaking of his own ministry, Paul reminds us that, ″we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed″ (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). The first quality of victorious Christians is a recognition of our own weakness. Yet, even though the enemies arrayed against us are powerful and formidable, we know Christ has defeated them. By faith, we share in His victory.

At the end of the psalm, Asaph calls on all people to bring ″gifts to the One to be feared″ (Psalm 76:11). Today, we bring gifts of money or possessions so we can ″do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased″ (Hebrews 13:16).