How Long, O Lord?

A Psalm of Asaph.

79 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
² They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
³ They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
⁴ We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.

⁵ How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call upon your name!
⁷ For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.

⁸ Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!
¹⁰ Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!

¹¹ Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
¹² Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors
the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
¹³ But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

 

Reflection

• The psalmist Asaph recounted the violence done to Jerusalem by pagan nations and called on God to pay them back.  He acknowledged that the disaster came because of their “former iniquities” (sins of our ancestors, v8 , the Voice). He called on God to forgive His people and restore the nation for His own glory. He then asked God to pay back the nations, for in crushing Judah, they have, in fact, insulted the Lord.
• As we look at the society we are in, we see Christians and churches become objects of scorn and derision, too.  The psalmist prayed: “How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?”(vv5)
• This is a prayer of desperation.  It is also a prayer of faith.  The psalmist believes God has the power to transform the situation.  He looks forward to the time when God will answer their prayer, then “we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise (v.13).”
• Are you saying “How long” right now? What makes you impatient?

 

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the “Spiritual Journal” book.