Daily Meditations

Psalm 79:12 Pay back time! Firstly, what does the Psalm writer mean when he asks to Lord to “ pay back into the laps of our neighbours?” Obviously, it’s a phrase that was in common use and it probably means more than just dump something into the lap of a person who is sitting down! Look carefully and you will note that the noun is plural, so it encompasses all the neighbours, in fact the whole of Babylon is in view. It’s pay back time and the psalmist wants the Lord God to dump on the Babylonians seven times the contempt that they have hurled at Him! The word “lap” here more correctly means bosom or heart, so Asaph’s descendant is asking God to hit the Babylonians where it hurts the most, in the very core of their culture and their empire, and to hit them so hard, they will never recover. He did, and they didn’t! The significance of the number 7 is important here, it always signifies completeness, perfection, fulness. When 7 comes up, the job is done, nothing more can be added, it is f...

Psalm 79:11 The strong arm that preserves We have already determined that this Psalm was written during the time that the Jews had been exiled to Babylon and held in captivity there. They were not locked away in prison cells, Babylon was their prison cell. History records that the people were put to labour and were, in one sense, free. However, should they try to escape it would be under threat of death. This captivity was not dissimilar to the slavery their ancestors had experienced in Egypt, except that the people now knew that they belonged to a land, and they had an identity as a nation which they had jeopardised by their foolish disobedience and unbelief. It’s one thing being imprisoned and enslaved and it’s not your fault – that is injustice. It’s another thing knowing that you deserve your punishment – that is justice. And so, the cry went up to God, the groans of the prisoners were heard in heaven along with the plea that His strong arm should preserve those who were condemned ...

Psalm 79:10 Where is their God? How often do we hear this rather pathetic cry,  “Where is their God?”  It is presented in many different ways, “Why does God allow suffering? Why doesn’t God do something? Where is God when you need Him? What, in God’s name, is going on?” Of course, these questions are usually asked by those who have no concept of who God really is and what He is really like. In truth, He is active all around us, as we have seen. He is also party to a spiritual battle between good and evil where He spends an enormous amount of energy and grace in trying to keep humanity from walking straight into the pit of hell. He  has every right to be an angry God who gets sick and tired of mankind’s endless rebellion and their determination to pursue any other gods but Himself.  I listened to the Radio 4 News early this morning, three of the four reports I heard were all to do with climate change. In August of 2022 it is blamed for the floods in Pakistan, for...

Psalm 79:9 For the glory of Your name At last, a cry of penitence,  “Help us. Deliver us. Forgive our sins.”  The writer has set out the dilemma that the people are in. He has described the events that have led to the destruction of their land and the ignominious journey of captivity to Babylon. He has pleaded for God to rain down destruction on Israel’s enemies. Now, he cries for his people and asks that God forgives them. Are these the words that the Lord had been waiting to hear?  Notice that this is not a selfish plea, twice the writer pleads the glory of God’s name. What does that mean? Well, Israel were God’s chosen people. The land was His land of promise. The relationship that He had with the Jews was founded upon Covenant promises made to men like Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David. If the people were abandoned by Him forever and were never to be restored, then the name of the Lord God would be vilified amongst the nations and amongst His people. It’s ironic is it n...

Psalm 79:8 We are in desperate need! 2 Kings 17 carries a terrible indictment against Israel. They had abandoned God’s ways to follow the practices of the heathen nations. They built high altars and erected Asherah poles. They worshipped idols and rejected God’s decrees and the Covenant He had made with them. They worshipped the stars, and they exalted the pagan god, Baal. They practiced child sacrifice and divination and used omens for spiritual guidance. So, God gave Israel over to plunderers, He abandoned His people.  He was so angry with them that He showed no favours to Judah and allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed and the Temple to be ransacked and raised to the ground. Wicked kings had come and gone, and the situation reached breaking point when the Lord God admitted that  “He was not willing to forgive.”  2 Kings 24:3-4. As a consequence, the people must suffer God’s judgements and the curses He pronounced over those who broke His commandments and who abandoned...

Psalm 79:7 Jacob has returned Jeremiah writes,  “Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the people who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and destroyed his homeland.”  Jeremiah 10:25.        We have already commented on the pointlessness of assuming that politics can solve the world’s problems and that any man-made solutions, be they left wing, right wing, centre ground or dictatorial are just the by-products of a much higher strategic plan. Jacob’s devastation had many causes, historians would point to the military weakness of the Jews and the territorial ambitions of the King of Babylon. But we know that the Jews were defying their God and were being judged for their rebellion, and we also know that Babylon was an empire controlled by evil spiritual powers that were tools in God’s hands. Jerusalem was ransacked, the land of Israel was a wilderness, the people...

Psalm 79:6 Pour out Your wrath This is a very Jewish cry that is heartfelt and justified. They were, and are, God’s chosen ones. At the time when this Psalm was written, they alone on the earth could claim that Elohim was their God and that they had His protection and care in times of peace and of trouble. No other nation worshipped their God, He was the only true God, all others were either imagined or counterfeits, engineered by the deceptive exploits of the Satan. Thus, in times of trouble, Israel had the right to ask their God to free them from the domination of the other nations and to pour out His wrath on their enemies. It’s a request that also reflects their helplessness. Captivity in the land of a dominant empire, with no army and no leadership was as good a reason as any for these stubborn-hearted people to admit their sinfulness and beg God to deliver them. Which He did, after 70 years.  The big question for us is can we make such a request and ask the Lord God to pour d...