Psalm 74:1

Psalm 74:1

A Psalm written during Israel’s exile 

This Psalm, like its predecessor, is attributed to Asaph or a member of his Levitical family. As we have seen, Psalm 73 bemoans the prosperity of the wicked and the writer feels let down and envious when he compares their fortunes with his own. There is a change of heart however and the Psalm turns into a joyous song of expectation. Psalm 74 is similar in design. 

In this instance the complaints are set against the backdrop of Israel’s exile. The nation has been banished from the land and the temple in Jerusalem lies in ruins. Most of the people are slaves, probably in Babylon, and the security and provision of the Promised Land seems like a distant dream. It appears that this song was written at a similar time to the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and while Israel’s captors mock and scoff at their God, Asaph is trusting that God will ultimately bring deliverance to His people. 

 

v1        Why, why, why? The first eleven verses of the Psalm are full of such cries of woe. The writer cannot understand why. Why has God rejected His people? Why is He so angry with them? Why does He not intervene? (v11). How long must they suffer the enemy’s mockery? (v10). 

In truth, we all ask these questions when everything is stacked against us. Israel had good reason to ask why, but they also had good reason to look back and come up with some answers. The Lord had warned that if they kept His laws and did not worship foreign gods, all would be well with them. If they disobeyed and bowed down to idols, they would be cursed, and calamity would come upon them. Their fate was in their own hands although God had predicted what it would be! 

What is amazing is that the exiled people still saw the Lord as their shepherd, they were the sheep of His pasture and thus they believed that He would return and rescue them. We are all the sheep of His pasture, we will sometimes find ourselves wandering in very difficult places and it might seem that we are far from home. At such times we learn to trust the Lord implicitly and to depend upon Him wholeheartedly, and yes, He will come and draw us back to our inheritance in Him. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 4:1 Smear campaigns

Psalm 4:1    Smear campaigns   The background to this Psalm is so familiar; David is being slandered and maligned by his detractors.  It seems that some calamity has befallen the nation and the king is getting the blame! Lies are being told, a smear campaign has begun, and the reputation of the Sovereign is under threat.  As usual, if something goes wrong, culpability is laid at the feet of the one in charge.  David, quite rightly, turns to the Lord his God and prays for relief and for mercy. The Satan is a master of such campaigns and his emissaries gleefully turn on Christians in leadership positions although the whispering campaign can affect all of us. The whispering starts in our own heads, but it can also come from the lips of our detractors. It goes something like this: - You’re the reason it went wrong You messed up again You should have seen it coming Surely you know better You are not worthy You don’t know what you’re doing Someone else ought to be in c
Read more

Psalm 74:16

Psalm 74:16 God established the sun and the moon “ In  the beginning   God created   the heavens   and the earth.   2  Now the earth was formless   and empty,   darkness was over the surface of the deep,   and the Spirit of God   was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said,   “Let there be light,” and there was light.   4  God saw that the light was good,   and he separated the light from the darkness.   5  God called   the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”   And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” These, so familiar, words from Genesis 1 remind us of who is in charge! There would be no light without God. There would be no day or night without God. There would be no earth without God. And there would have been no living things unless God had created order out of chaos. The sun, moon and stars would not be fixed in their orbits without God and you and I would not exist unless He ordered our conception. It is because we see God as glorious, righteous
Read more
Psalm4:8        I will lie down and sleep                Th ere are times, in the life of all believers, when we no longer have control of situations. We can do nothing more. We have given our all, we have tried every possible solution and now it is out of our hands. As someone has wisely said, “It is time to let go and let God.” If we truly trust Him, if our faith will allow us, we can turn our backs on our enemies. We can block our ears to the threats. We can ignore the lies and the deceit and say,  “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety.” I should imagine that the devil, having sent a hurricane our way is not amused, when we settle in our beds in the midst of it all and drift off into a peaceful sleep! But that is our right and privilege once we let the Lord God Almighty take control. These spiritual attacks are like whirlwinds, they blow with terrifying intensity and threaten to turn us upside down; the disciples witnessed one of thes
Read more