But we your people, the sheep of your
pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will
recount your praise.”
The Asaph who wrote Psalm 79 lived in the time of Jeremiah the prophet when the
Babylonians captured the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it. In verses 1-4,
Asaph is mourning over the terrible atrocities that have taken place. In verses 5-8, he is suffering and feels
God’s anger and jealousy. In verses
9-11, he is praying and pleading with God to bring relief. “Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
According to the greatness of Your power Preserve those who are appointed to
die” (v. 11).
Now as Asaph finishes his prayer and writing this Psalm, he closes it with a
promise to praise God. Over the years as I have read the Psalms each month, I
have noticed that many of Psalms begin with the writer sharing his feelings of
despair, suffering and pain, praying and pleading to God for help, reminding
himself of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, but then almost in all of
them he finishes the Psalm with praise. Well, Asaph in Psalm 79 does the same.
He must have been familiar with previously written Psalms!
How could any person witness what Babylon did to the Jews and not cry out to God
for retribution? In some ways Psalm 79 fits the description of the imprecatory
prayers in the Psalms. God had chosen Babylon to chasten Judah for her sins, but
the Babylonians had rejoiced at the privilege and had gone too far in their
cruelty (Jer. 50:11-16; 51:24). Asaph's burden was that Babylon had not just
punished His people but had also mocked and reproached the Lord. So, he asked
God to pay them back in like measure (see Isa. 65:6; Jer. 32:18; Luke 6:38).
God's covenant with Israel often uses the phrase "seven times" (Lev. 26:18,
21, 24, 28; Deut. 28:7, 25). The prophet Jeremiah promised that God would judge
Babylon for her sins (Jer. 50-51). Jeremiah had prophesied that God would us
Babylon to punish Israel for their sins but also that he would eventually
punish and judge Babylon for what they did when they carried out that judgment.
No doubt Asaph knew of these prophecies, then he was simply praying for God to
accomplish His will on earth.
Asaph pleas that the people of Judah were but sheep (Psalms 74:1; 77:20; 78:72; 95:7;
100:3), but they had been ruthlessly slaughtered by their enemies, and God's
name had been slandered. God had called His people to praise Him and to bear
witness to the heathen nations (Isa. 43:21), and this is what Asaph promised to
do if God would only deliver the people. It is interesting to note that years
later there were sons of Asaph who left Babylon for Judah when the captivity
ended, so Asaph's promise to the Lord was fulfilled (Ezra 2:41; 3:10; Neh.
7:44; 11:17, 22; 12:35-36).
Because God is holy and just, He must judge and punish sin. This is the story of Israel
throughout the Old Testament. Over and over again you read about this in the
Book of Judges and the rest of the history books through 2 Chronicles. But I’m
afraid that this is also our story. After we have enjoyed the favor and
blessings of the Lord for a period of time, we take them for granted and become
complacent, and begin to slip back into our old ways and forget the Lord,
growing cold in our spiritual life.
The Lord has to get our attention with some chastisement, and He is ready to
forgive us when we come back to Him. Remember in Luke 15 the story of the
prodigal son. We thank the Lord for the promise that “if we confess our sins
God is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1
John 1:9-10).
God bless!
