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Psalm 74 (ESV)

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
² Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
³ Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴ Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
⁵ They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.
⁶ And all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They set your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
⁸ They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹ We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

¹² Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷ You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰ Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹ Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.

²² Arise, O God, defend your cause;
remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
²³ Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

REFLECTION:

1. This psalm poses a question that each of us is driven to ask at times. Why is God silent? Why hasn’t He acted? Why does He seem to reject His people? The psalmist described Jerusalem’s destruction and questioned God why He allowed the enemy to mock Him as such.
2. What are we to do when we too feel crushed, puzzled, and anguished because God permits us to suffer?
3. It is at such times, we are often driven to pray and intercede. We become aware of the consequences of sin and the destructive power of evil. And know that we need God’s help otherwise we will have no hope for restoration.
4. What event in your life has caused a crisis in faith for you? How did you handle it? Is the problem resolved? How can your cell group or the church help?

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

HYMN:

Oh God, Why? – www.youtube.com/watch?v=snpH-JHMC2g