Here the Psalmist believes in God’s great power. The power of the heathen is just an expression of God’s power. But God isn’t acting yet; so he wants to know how long he has to put up with the mess. The same sort of thing is true of Paul and John. Both have a dual sense: God’s promise and humanity’s sin. Perhaps there’s a clue here in the way biblical writers hold the agony and the ecstasy together. For example, the Bible practically starts with Adam and Eve’s rebellion. But, even before that, the
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