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May 13, 2014
Grief is a reality in this life, even for those who love Christ. One place we see extreme grief illustrated in the Bible is in the psalms of lament. Yet even these writings aid us by helping to order our disordered affections and set them aright. Christopher Ash demonstrates this truth from Psalm 74, where the psalmist’s initial anguish is assuaged by reminding himself of who God is and that He is sovereign over all.
1O God, why do you scast us off forever?
Why does your anger tsmoke against uthe sheep of your pasture?
2vRemember your congregation, which you have wpurchased of old,
which you have xredeemed to be ythe tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, zwhere you have dwelt.
3Direct your steps to athe perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4Your foes have broared in the midst of your meeting place;
cthey set up their down signs for esigns.
5They were like those who swing faxes
in a forest of trees.2
6And all its gcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7They hset your sanctuary on fire;
they iprofaned jthe dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8They ksaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9We do not see our lsigns;
mthere is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10How long, O God, nis the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11Why odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
12Yet pGod my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13You qdivided the sea by your might;
you rbroke the heads of sthe sea monsters4 on the waters.
14You crushed the heads of tLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15You usplit open springs and brooks;
you vdried up ever-flowing streams.
16Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established wthe heavenly lights and the sun.
17You have xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made ysummer and winter.
18zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and aa foolish people reviles your name.
19Do not deliver the soul of your bdove to the wild beasts;
cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20Have regard for dthe covenant,
for ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21Let not fthe downtrodden gturn back in shame;
let hthe poor and needy praise your name.
22Arise, O God, idefend your cause;
jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
