John Calvin Commentary Psalms 92:7

"When the wicked spring as the grass, And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; It is that they shall be destroyed for ever." — Psalms 92:7 (ASV)

When the wicked flourish as the grass. He points out and exposes, by a striking and appropriate figure, the folly of imagining that the wicked obtain a triumph over God when he, perhaps, does not immediately restrain them. He concedes to some extent—he grants that they spring up and flourish—but immediately adds, by way of qualification, that they flourish like the grass, only for a moment, their prosperity being brief and fleeting.

In this way he removes what has been an almost universal stumbling block and ground of offense. For it would be ridiculous to envy the happiness of men who are doomed to be speedily destroyed, and of whom it may be said that today they flourish, and tomorrow they are cut down and wither (Psalms 129:6).

It will be shown, when we consider the psalm just quoted, that the herbs to which the wicked are compared are those that grow on the roofs of houses, which lack depth of soil and die on their own from lack of nourishment.

In the present passage, the Psalmist is content with simply using the figure that the prosperity of the wicked leads to their speedier destruction, just as grass, when it is fully grown, is ready for the scythe.

An antithesis is also drawn between their brief existence and the everlasting destruction that awaits them. For they are not said to be cut down so that they may flourish again, as withered plants recover their vigor, but are condemned to eternal perdition.

When he says of God that he sits exalted for evermore, some understand this to mean that God holds the power and office of governing the world, and that we may be certain nothing can happen by chance when such a righteous governor and judge administers the affairs of the world.

Various other meanings have been suggested. But it seems to me that the Psalmist compares the stability of God’s throne with the fluctuating and changeable character of this world, reminding us that we must not judge him by what we see in the world, where there is nothing fixed or enduring.

God looks down undisturbed from the height of heaven upon all the changes of this earthly scene, which neither affect him nor relate to him.

The Psalmist brings this forward with a further aim than simply to teach us to distinguish God from his creatures and to give due honor to his majesty. He would have us learn, as we contemplate God's wonderful and mysterious providence, to lift our thoughts above ourselves and this world, because our earthly minds can only grasp a dark and confused view.

It is to lead us to a proper discernment of the divine judgments, which are not seen in the world, that the Psalmist, in mentioning God’s majesty, would remind us that he does not work according to our ideas, but in a manner corresponding to his own eternal being.

We, short-lived creatures as we are, often thwarted in our attempts, hampered and interrupted by many intervening difficulties, and too eager to seize the first opportunity that presents itself, are accustomed to act hastily. But we are taught here to lift our eyes to that eternal and unchangeable throne on which God sits, wisely deferring the execution of his judgments.

Accordingly, these words convey more than a simple commendation of God’s glorious being. They are meant to strengthen our faith and to tell us that, although his people may sigh under many anxious fears, God himself, the guardian of their safety, reigns on high and shields them with his everlasting power.