Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 79

Do you ever just sit back and wonder why? Sometimes, when it seems like the seams are just coming apart in your life, all you can do is look up and ask God why? Why are these things happening? In Psalm 79, the seams have come apart.

Psalm 79:1-4

O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.  They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.  They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.

It’s popular these days in the modern church for people to tell you, “God’s not mad at you.” Really? How do they know that? Listen to the psalmist ask God about what’s happening in his world.

Psalm 79:5-7
How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?  Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name!  For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.

According to my Bible, God gets angry. According to this psalm, God gets angry.  Though the psalmist wants God to pour out His anger on his adversary, it was the nation’s own sin that brought this action to play. The psalmist recognizes this, so He seeks salvation from God.

Psalm 79:8-9
Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!

God hates sin. He hates all sin, but the good news is that God also loves us. So, because of God’s wrath and just nature, there is a serious penalty for sin. But because of God’s love, He also sent Jesus to pay the price for the sins of those who will come to Him confessing and repenting. Sin still has consequences, even to the believers, but if we trust in the atoning work of Christ on the cross, we can be restored in relationship with our heavenly Father.

This morning we must look back at our sins of yesterday and confess and repent. Then we must live by faith in the atoning work of Christ. Look carefully of these words from Hebrews 12:3-11

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Do not regard lightly God’s discipline. If the seams are coming apart, look hard within to see if there is iniquity in your heart. Use every situation to work in your life, including the trials, to lean on God and only God. Then do what Hebrews 12:12-13 says,
 

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”

Then be thankful and praise God, for He loves you so much, He will not let you dwell forever in your own sin.

Psalm 79:13
But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Amen.