Interpretation and application are not conflicting in the scriptures. So, when reading these psalms, there are times when we can learn by application, even though, as in this psalm, the millennium is in view. What glories will be seen when our Lord Jesus comes, and the victory promised to His earthly people will be real and permanent under His reign. God’s reputation will be spread and revered all over the world. Jerusalem will be the headquarters of His reign of worldwide peace. The fame of the Lord will be such that all nations will submit to Him and recognize Him as the supreme authority on earth.
There was likely some local military victory in which the Lord’s power was evident in delivering Jerusalem from its enemies when this psalm was written. So, this psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving for a military victory. It is a foreshadowing of the time when universal government will be established. War will be over. Peace will be normal. Judgment on the proud, arrogant, and ungodly nations will have taken place. The coming of the Lord in power and great glory will have ended the time when the whole world was in the arms of the wicked one. Weapons of war will be laid down, and their materiel will be used for peaceful purposes.
When we find ourselves concerned over the “stout-hearted men of might,” we must remember that “greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” Our Lord is, and always will be, the Mighty Conqueror. There are times when “the wrath of man” can intimidate us if we look only from a human perspective. However, when we see the work of God on behalf of the “meek” (oppressed) who seem to have been overlooked, and God, in mercy, saves them by His grace, mouths are opened to praise the one who was complaining. The words of opposition from enemies of the Gospel add to the praise, because the evidence of new life is unmistakable, and the reality of being born again cannot be denied. A changed life and a changed mouth to praise God have great power in testimony.
When our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in His glory, the whole world of mankind will stand still when they see the despised Jews welcome their Messiah, and He receives them gladly, even though when He came the first time, “His own received Him not.” When the Lord’s power in delivering Jerusalem from all enemies is evident, there will be praise for His power, His majesty, and His victories. There will be praise for God’s righteous justice against the wrath of man. There will be praise for God when vows made are fulfilled. There will be praise when God establishes a universal government under righteous and just authority. Man's hostility against God by the wrath of evil men will bring praise when the tables are turned on their evil, and God is honored and glorified.
Our vows today are our response to His grace and the deliverance He gives us from the power of sin and the devil. It is right for us to pay our homage to our Lord and our God. If we make vows of appreciation and gratitude, our fulfillment of those vows is a reasonable expectation. Redeemed souls have much to praise God for. He is our victorious Lord, and we, too, can experience “Victory in Jesus.” “Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God” is as real to us today as it will be in Israel’s future.