[:en]Our Daily Verse (1/5/21)[:]

[:en]SCRIPTURE:  PSALM 74

“Why have you rejected us forever, O God?  Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? (Psalm 74:1)

“But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth” (Psalm 74:12)

“Rise up, O God, and defend your cause, remember how fools mock you all day long” (Psalm 74:22)

Asaph wrote this psalm during the time when the Jewish city and temple were destroyed by the Babylonians.  All the beauty and splendor of Jerusalem had gone up in smoke.  He saw perpetual desolations with the Babylonians setting up their banners and taken down God’s banner.

DAMAGES DONE BY THE BABYLONIANS:

  1. They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets (v. 6)
  2. They burned God’s sanctuary to the ground and defiled the dwelling place of His name (v. 7)
  3. They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land (v. 8)

But when Asaph stopped looking around, he looked up and said: “But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth. (v. 12).

WHAT HAD GOD DONE IN THE PAST:

  1. He split open the sea by His power and broke the heads of the monster in the water (v. 13)
  2. He crushed the heads of the Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert (v. 14)
  3. He established the sun and moon (v. 16)
  4. He set all the boundaries of the earth and made both summer and winter (v. 17)

ASAPH PLEADED WITH THE LORD:

  1.  Remember how the enemy has mocked you and reviled your name, O Lord!” (v. 18)
  2. Do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever (v. 19)
  3. Have regard for your covenant because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land (v. 20)
  4. Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace (v. 21)
  5. Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; (v. 22)
  6. Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries and uproar of your enemies (v. 23)

The destruction of Jerusalem happened because the people had sinned.  They were trusting the city and the temple but not obeying the Lord.

Therefore, if you trust things other than the Lord, expect things to crumble and failures to come.   Remember the things that the Lord had done to you in the past.  And you will realize how great and mighty your God is.

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