Why do you cast us off forever? – Psalm 74
NOTE:
Today’s commentary is by Dr. Kevin Watson, who is coming to Tulsa to become the Director of Academic Growth and Formation at the Tulsa Extension Site for Asbury Theological Seminary, as well as joining our staff at Asbury Church as Scholar-in-Residence. I wrote a post Tuesday evening announcing and explaining this move. For most of our remaining psalms (there are 150 in total), Kevin will write the daily commentary—every now and then, particularly with the later psalms, I’ll write some of the commentary. When Kevin writes, his byline will be included, as above.
—Andrew
Psalm 74
A Maskil of Asaph.
1 O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
5 They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.
6 And all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, defend your cause;
remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
One of the things that is astounding about the Psalms is that they provide a model for forthright and honest communication with God in any circumstance. Psalm 74 is a great example of this.
“O God, why do you cast us off forever?”
The Psalm begins with a frank complaint. And after complaining about being cast off forever, there is a plea to God to remember:
Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
God has invested in this particular congregation, setting them apart to be a piece of God’s own heritage.
Then, the Psalmist calls on God to come look at the ruins. Look at the destruction the ones chosen as God’s own heritage have experienced:
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
5 They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.
6 And all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
These verses detail the utter destruction that God’s people have experienced. They are utterly defeated.
9 We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
The discouragement isn’t merely because valuable structures have been destroyed. It is also because they are leaderless. There is no prophet. No one to offer hope, vision, encouragement.
11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
All of this leads for a shocking call for God to act.
God, destroy them!
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
The Psalmist is frustrated at God’s inaction. The Psalmist is angry because of God’s seeming indifference in the face of the people’s defeat, humiliation, and suffering.
Have you ever asked God, “Why aren’t you doing anything about this?” Have you ever felt complete despair because you’ve done everything you can think to do and it hasn’t fixed anything, hasn’t solved the problem?
Reread verses 12-17. Do you see what the Psalmist does? It is a reminder of the ways God has acted in the past. The Psalmist is saying: “I don’t know why God isn’t acting now in the ways I want him to. But I do know that God is alive and active because I know of the ways he has acted in the past. And the deeds God has done that are rehearsed put the Lord in a category all alone. There is no one who compares to the Lord God.
How have you seen God move in powerful ways in the past? Write them down so your faith can be strengthened.
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
In verses 12-17 the Psalmist reminds himself of the ways God has acted in the past. In verses 18-21, he (again) asks God to remember. Remember the enemy’s wickedness and how he has mocked you. Remember the covenant.
22 Arise, O God, defend your cause;
remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
And finally, the Psalmist prods God to act in the ways He has acted in the past.
Isn’t it amazing that we are invited to speak to God in this way?
Our circumstances in negative world Christianity are very different in many ways than the context Psalm 74 speaks to. But they are not entirely different. We can pray to God, our Father, and cry out to him our own version of verses 22-23:
“Father, get up! Defend the gospel! Look at how people mock the clear teaching of your Scriptures. Do not forget the ways that Christianity’s cultured despisers thumb their nose at your will and your ways, making more and more money as they embrace causes opposed to the good, the true, and the beautiful.”
If you could ask God to get up and do one thing today to vindicate the teaching of Scripture, what would it be? Ask God to do it now!