Based on Psalm 74 (New King James Version)
“O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—this Mount Zion where You have dwelt. Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; they set up their banners for signs. They seem like men who lift up axes among the thick trees. And now they break down its carved work, all at once, with axes and hammers. They have set fire to Your sanctuary; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground. They said in their hearts, ‘Let us destroy them altogether.’ They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land. We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet; nor is there any among us who knows how long. O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them. For God is my King from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up mighty rivers. The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter. Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord, and that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name. Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast! Do not forget the life of Your poor forever. Have respect to the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty. Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise Your name. Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily. Do not forget the voice of Your enemies; the tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.”
The first thing we could see is who wrote this Psalm and when was it written. This Psalm was not written by King David, but rather by Asaph, one of the three main worship musicians from the tribe of Levi who lived during the reign of King David. Why is this important? Because much of what Asaf wrote here is either from very ancient times, or is prophetic. Regarding ancient times, Asaph writes of the sea monsters (or great sea serpents as the Hebrew Scriptures further specify) and leviathan, which were creatures that existed before the flood. And of course it should be clear that Asaph did not see these creatures or these events in person. The other person who spoke of leviathan was Job, and the book of Job is believed to be the oldest book in the Bible, having been written long before Moses wrote Genesis. And when Asaf tells that they have set fire to the sanctuary, and that the synagogues have been burned, and that there is no more prophet, it is impossible for him to be talking about his present. During the time of King David, when Asaph lived, such things never happened. If not, the opposite was true. He lived during the time of the complete establishment of the Kingdom of Israel, and even of Jerusalem as its capital. So, what does it all mean?
In order to understand this better, it would be necessary to start with the future, that is, with the disasters that Israel would experience long after Asaf died. If a person heard this song by Asaf at the time, some would say that he would be crazy, or that he simply he is unaware of reality. But, what God does is that He reveals to Asaph what would happen to Israel when they left Him. Now, one has to wonder: “Why would (or does) God allow enemies to destroy His people?” God allows the enemies to do what they want when the people forget about Him, when they abandon God. This is what the Lord said: “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you… …The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.” Deuteronomy 28:15, 25, 26. So, the vast majority of the time, God allows the enemies of His people to prevail against them because they have simply turned their backs on God. And this was what would happen with Israel and the Assyrians, and later with Judah and the Babylonians. And of course, God allowed Rome to come and destroy Jerusalem in 70AD because the people of Israel did not recognize the visit of His Messiah. Instead of exalting Him as such, they crucified Him and killed Him, and neither the religious nor the governmental authorities repented from their great evil. The Lord had to be killed, but woe to those who got involved to do it and did not repent.
Now, why talk about such a distant past? Because faith can only be strengthened by remembering God's deeds in the past, and especially by remembering things that go beyond the circumstances of the present (or future). The enemies that would arise in the future would be many, very strong and powerful, but God had done great feats against much more horrible and gigantic beings before. The Lord had destroyed beings that exponentially outnumbered the enemies that would come later. This is the reason why we can never forget the past acts of the Most High, because they feed our trust in Him. There are two things that have to do with this aspect, and they are: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. In the Word of God, we have the riches of His deeds, of His great actions, and of His immense mercies, because God acts out of mercy (there is nothing that can obligate Him to do anything). And blessed be the Lord that He never changes!
So, how do these things apply to us today? That we must always keep in mind, especially those of us who follow the Lord, that we can never forget the Lord. We can never turn our backs on Him, or else, great evils will happen to us. This is the reason why we have many of our problems today, because many who had known God have turned their backs on him. They have become infatuated in their sin and rebellion against God and have abandoned Him for things of much lesser value, and thus, insulting His greatness. Unfortunately, many of God's people sell themselves for very small and temporary things. They sell their relationship with God very cheaply. But, if one repents of all their wickedness, of their unfaithfulness to the Lord, God can have mercy again, and can do great things, He can act in our favor and do great things, such as those He did before. The Lord is a jealous God, but He is also merciful and good to those who seek His face and, above all, love Him. And the greatest enemy that we need Him to defeat for us is death and the eternal consequence of sin. He has defeated them on the cross, but we have to treat him as the Lord that He is so that He can effectively defeat these enemies in our individual lives. It is not about saying, “Lord”, but about actually treating Him as Lord. So, do you need God to deal with your oppressors? Lord bless! John