Psalm 79 - In desperate need

Read: Psalm 79 vs 1-13

In 588BC armies of the mighty Babylonian Empire laid siege to the city of Jerusalem. Over the next 18 months the city was starved into submission and in July 586BC the city walls were finally breached. The defending army was scattered, the king fled, and huge numbers of Jerusalem’s citizens were either cut down in the street of deported to Babylon, where many of them would live as exiles for the rest of their lives. These events (recorded in 2 Kings 25:1-26 mark the absolute low point of the Old Testament story, a moment of God’s judgment upon His own people (following years of disobedience), a moment of devastation at the hands of their pagan enemies.

It is not unusual for nations to remember and celebrate moments of great victory in their national story. It is, however, less usual for people to remember moments of national humiliation and defeat. Psalm 79 retells the story of that time when Babylon reduced Jerusalem to rubble (vs 1), defiling the holy temple and leaving dead bodies on the streets to be picked over by the birds of the sky. 

So what is going on here as Asaph, the writer of this Psalm, relives these terrible moments from the history of his people? There is a cry here to God for justice, a deep longing that He will rise up against His enemies (vs 5-7), but there is also a deep cry for God’s mercy upon His own people (vs 8). If the focus is solely on how bad Jerusalem’s enemies are then all that the people can do, now and for years to come, is vent their anger and bitterness. 

However, Asaph knows that there is more to what has happened than this. God’s people have sinned greatly, and they have sinned repeatedly throughout the generations (vs 8). But it is at this moment of confessing sin that Asaph finds hope; as He pleads with God to forgive, to deliver, and to restore His people; ultimately for the glory of His Name (vs 9).

Hope is found not in pleading our innocence but in praying that God’s mercy would come quickly to meet us (vs 8).

Prayer: Father we are Your people. Our history, back to Bible times, is one where often we have sinned greatly against You. Lord thank Your for Your mercy revealed in Jesus. May Your mercy come quickly to meet us in these days, for the glory of Your Name. Amen.