The Two Works of God

"Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands. [...] When the wicked spring up as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is [so] that they shall be destroyed forever.... The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." Ps. 92:4, 7, 12-13

Herein are the two works of God: the defeat of His enemies (vs. 7-9) and the triumph of His people (vs. 10-14). These are two sure promises on which we have great grounds to rejoice, and that for two reasons.
The first is obvious: the good guy wins and the bad guys lose. We are not victors in and of ourselves; rather, it is God who is the Victor, and through Christ we share in His victory. In the end, we shall see the affirmation of the child-like view: evil will have its momentary triumphs, but will ultimately fail at the hand of the hero. God's first work is the destruction of his enemies and His final triumph, and us with Him.
The second reason is (what I call) theodic: "to show that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him" (vs. 15). All the skeptics and doubters will be answered in the end, for we shall all step into the other side of silence, and view the tapestry of God's will and purposes from the front (so to speak), and we will at long last see the sense of it all. At that day, every mouth will be stopped, and all will know what the angels of heaven have always known: Holy is the Lord. God's holiness will be proven, and none will say a word against it.

-Jon Vowell