Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 74

For the second night in a row, St. Louis had a violent night. Windows of the local businesses were smashed as the crowd turned from one of peaceful protests, into a mob. For some, it was a night in which they asked why? Why were they targeted? They had nothing to do with the perceived injustice being protested. The business owners and the residents of the area targeted feel rejected. Psalm 74 is a look back at the days after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians. The people then felt rejected and abandoned by God, just as some probably do this morning in St. Louis.

Psalm 74:1

O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

When life gets personal and destruction comes to us, it is a normal feeling to wonder why. It is easy to ask God, where were you, when the storms of life hit and the enemy has brought destruction.

Psalm 74:5-6
They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees.  And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

The last two nights of violent protests sound a bit like verses 5-6. But when the temple was destroyed in 587-586 BC, the questions asked by the people were even harder, because it was the very place of worship and meeting with God that was attacked.

Psalm 74:4
Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs.

Psalm 74:7-8
They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.  They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

Imagine this morning if we woke up to a land where all the churches were burned down. But the truth is this; God’s temple is being attacked this very day. But He no longer dwells in buildings, but God dwells now in the hearts of His people. Christians are the Temple of God. And Christians are under attack across this world, both in physical manner and in the attacks on what we believe. God’s Word has been rejected right here in America. It is tempting to lose faith. It is tempting to think God has left us alone to face the attack. He has not.

Psalm 74:9-11
We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.  How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?  Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

Whatever enemy you face today, you must trust God and wait in faith. You must go to your knees in prayer, for that is the humble posture God wants us to grow into. He allows the enemy to have success in some battles so that we will learn to become totally dependent on Him.

After the temple was destroyed the psalmist realized that God had been faithful in keeping His covenant with Israel and it was the Jews who had failed God. So, he remembered what God had done in the past.

Psalm 74:12-15
Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.  You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.  You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.  You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams.

He remembered who God is. He remembered that God is sovereign and in control.

Psalm 74:16-17
Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.

Psalm 74:18-23
Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever.  Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.  Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.  Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!  Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

If you woke up this morning to broken windows, turn to God in prayer. Maybe the brokenness in your life is not physical, but emotional. Turn to God in prayer. But remember that God has shown us the path of life to follow and that when we stray from it, God will allow the enemy to have victory over us so that we are humbled and so we know it is God upon whom all our faith must rest.

Trust Him. Repent and be restored and He will rebuild the temple of your heart, where He has chosen to dwell. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Turn to Him.