^{Ps 144 3} O LORD , what is man that you care for him,
the son of man that you think of him?
⁴ Man is like a breath;
his days are like a fleeting shadow."

When God created man, He put man in the garden to enjoy the fruit of all that God had given to man. The garden was mans paradise. When man fell into sin , because he was cursed , he entered in to an world where God and Satan are at war. All men are under the curse of sin and Satan unless they are redeemed by God. In this Psalm , the Psalmist is appealing to God on the basis of Gods promise to restore mans position as ruler over the creation. The Psalmist is quoting the Ps 8 where it describes Gods purpose in creating the earth and giving man rule over it. But this Psalm is teaching that in order for Gods people to be restored in this creation ordinance they must contend with the wicked.

Satan has taken the rule over the earth. But he opposes God  through his children attacking Gods people. God has created man for one purpose. God created the world and governs it. But He has given man the world as a gift. If God gave man the responsibility over the earth then the only opposition would be the self governing ability in man. But here we are taught that the war is not the self governing ability in man but the opposition that is governed by Satan. In order for man to be restored to the his lawful right of ruling over the earth , he must subdue the opposition. But the problem is that man is unable to overcome the Devil unless God acts to subdues him. We are totally dependent upon God because we have no authority by in claiming the earth by our value or ability. It is all gifted to us so that we are totally dependent upon God. ⁴ Man is like a breath;
his days are like a fleeting shadow.

Man was created to govern the earth but when he sinned he lost his ability. The Psalms teach that man was cursed with physical and spiritual death. The curse governs mans relationship with God and the creation. So when the Psalmist says ⁴ Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.its like saying that there is no hope for the man who is cursed. Man does not possess the power to destroy Gods people or the creation. Its like being threatened and disarming the threat by pronouncing the curse. No matter what kind of cultural position of the wicked man, the pronouncement is absolute. This pronouncement is like declaring war on the foreigner¹¹ Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. ". You see that the Psalmist calls upon God to destroy the opposition by war. So have the pronouncement and then the declaration of war.⁵ Part your heavens, O LORD , and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke".

This Psalm is teaching that in order for Gods people to return to their original rule in the garden ..which is much greater in the new earth..they must subdue the foreigner.  ¹² Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
¹³ Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; ¹⁴ our oxen will draw heavy loads. "^F22 In other words one follows the other. You see Gods rule over His creation is the rule of His government. There is no such teaching int two laws. The law of governing is the law of relationships. So we are taught that the law distinguishes. It divides the wicked from the righteous.

We live in a world where men believe in pragmatism. They do not believe that the world is defined by opposition of evil that is defined by presuppositions. We think that God accepts all men according to their citizenship. So we think that freedom is two different people who worship two different Gods living in the same country. But it is impossible for two different gods to be at peace. Because God established creation by being God. The reason that God cannot have any other gods before Him is because it would introduce threats and violence into the city. 14b There will be no breaching of walls,
no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets." So in the ultimate sense there can be not perfect peace unless all opposition in the city is subdued and brought to judgement. But we know that there was never a society that was perfect.

But by Gods standard of justice there is never a time where the idol worshipers are accepted in His kingdom. Some people think that we are prejudice because we desire to have no idol worshipers in the city. But it does not matter what we think because the world was never created to endure opposition. The presence of evil cannot exist in neutrality. Evil brings violence and violence brings destruction. If God allowed a false god then He would be destroying His kingdom. Not only would He be promoting violence but He would be slack at defending His people. You cannot reason that love is acceptance of everyone. Because acceptance of evil is acceptance of violence. In order for the standard of divine love to be seen there must be perfect justice. God must defend by justifying. There is only one real existence of love in the world and it is God. Because arguing for the acceptance of corruption is inviting destruction to mankind. This is why the gospel turns every thing in society upside down.

God cannot allow evil and idols to flourish or they would overtake the innocence and defense of the wronged. So God had to pronounce a curse upon all corruption. In order to be just He had to destroy corruption. The only way that men can be unified in His government is to be justified. This is why we need imputed righteousness. The truth is that no man can prosper in Gods kingdom unless he dies in Christ. So we see that Gods work of grace precedes  the revival of a unified nation.  Because apart from the death of war there is only death by identity. The destruction of the wicked nations precedes the prosperity of Gods nation. ¹⁵ Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD