Psalm 74:8

Psalm 74:8

The price of unbelief

The wholesale destruction of the holy things, mentioned in verses 6-7, was not just confined to Jerusalem. Wherever and at whatever place God was worshipped in the land of Israel, the Babylonians destroyed it. This was the Promised Land. There were places devoted to the worship of the one, true God, places that bore His name. But the wave of terror swept across the land until nothing remained, the soldiers of Babylon were intent on crushing the Israelites completely. And then they took the people captive and marched them off, en masse, to Babylon. 

This must have been a time of dreadful suffering, terror and humiliation for the Jews. Where was the God who had brought them to the Land? Where was the One who had protected and guarded them? Why was He allowing this calamitous chapter in their history? Would they ever return to their land? Isaiah, the prophet describes the history of the people prior to captivity against the backdrop of the Assyrian Empire. Jeremiah lived through the events that led to the sacking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and Lamentations is literally a lament over the devastation of Judah and Jerusalem under the Babylonians. However, the writers of these prophetic books pay little heed to the might of the Empires that crushed their land and their people. In their eyes it is the Lord who did this – try reading Lamentations chapter 2 and you will understand! 

The destruction of the British Empire, the emptying of our churches and the spiritual poverty of our land today is a reminder of what happens when a nation turns its back on the Lord God.

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