¹O God, why have You rejected us forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? … ¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast; Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

This is one of the sad songs in the scripture, written about the Babylonian invasion of Judah when that idolatrous nation ransacked and completely demolished the temple of God in Jerusalem. But it is also a song of raw trust in God despite the hopelessness of the situation. The people of God learned that His promises stand, whether to bless them when they loyally obey Him or to chastise them when they rebel against Him and worship idols. God had given them centuries of grace by not removing them from the land, but He finally brought severe judgment and sent them into captivity in 605 B.C. at the hand of the Babylonians.

The psalm begins with the question of why God has rejected Israel and why He is so angry with them when, after all, they are His people, redeemed from Egypt. The answer is evident to us who read the history of Israel in the pages of Scripture. Their sense of entitlement as the “chosen people of God” blinded them to the seriousness of their continued sinfulness against God. For those going through it in real-time, this was all confusing. They knew they had sinned as a nation, but it couldn’t be so bad that God would abandon them to conquest and captivity by a foreign nation, could it? God had solidified them as His people when He brought them out from Egyptian captivity through the Exodus—how could He now send them back into captivity? Was this to be the end of Israel?

While the Lord holds every individual responsible for his or her own personal sin, He also deals with Israel as a whole, from generation to generation. God’s chosen people share in the guilt of the whole nation in every age. So, the generation at the time of Psalm 74’s writing shared in the blessing of being redeemed from Egypt hundreds of years earlier, but they also shared in the judgments on the sins of previous generations. Conversely, the present generation is responsible for being the catalyst for faith in God to those who follow after. Israel is one people before God.

The opening prayer, therefore, is not a question seeking information but a desperate lament begging the Lord’s help during what seems like a hopeless situation. The nation has been destroyed; worship of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David, has been overturned everywhere and at every level. Only a small remnant is keeping the faith, among whom are those of the musical guild of Asaph, who were responsible for writing this psalm.

The lament calls on God to consider the destruction in Judah. The enemy has reduced the temple to “perpetual ruins” and “has damaged everything within the sanctuary” (vs. 3). Removed were all the service utensils and all the symbolic elements like the altar, ark, mercy seat, candle sticks, furniture, everything. Nothing was left unmolested, no corners were undesecrated, and no wooden items were unburned. The Babylonians had absolutely no respect for the holy things of God. In previous Jewish history, touching the holy Ark resulted in instant death, but now everything holy was abused, and God did nothing to stop it. The temple sanctuary was burned to the ground! (vs. 7). The destruction was complete and comprehensive. God had even retracted the prophetic word. True, God sent prophets to them from time to time during the exile to Babylon, but they were silent for much of the time (see Ezekiel 3:26). Isaiah, prophesizing during the time of Hezekiah before the Babylonian exile, said,

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isa. 41:10 emphasis added)

But now, in exile because of their continued rebellion, the people are given to sing a different tune:

“How long, O God, will the adversary revile, and the enemy spurn Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? From within Your bosom, destroy them!” (Ps. 74:10-11 emphasis added)

 Despite this, a remnant always remains of those who continue to be faithful to God and hope against hope in Him. The psalmist affirms that even though the Davidic dynasty seems to have been defeated, he can write, “Yet God is my king from of old” (vs. 12). He goes on to summarize all that God has done for Israel and His sovereignty over all the earth (vss. 13-17); God has not changed, and He is therefore trustworthy.

The psalmist appeals to God by His personal, covenantal name, “Yahweh” (vs. 18, rendered in our English translations as “Lord” in small caps). In other words, He calls on the one who made a covenant with His people that goes back as far as Moses. By this, he shows his belief in God’s promise, as embodied in His name, that He will act on behalf of His people in very substantive ways.

He affirms his loyalty to God by pointing out that the destruction represents a reviling against God (vs. 18). And he refers to the people as God’s “turtledove” (vs. 19), which refers to God’s affection for His people who are overwhelmed by the Babylonians army. To be sure, the rulers of Israel at times oppressed the people, as the prophets often pointed out, but now Israel is being oppressed by the pagan nation of Babylon. (For further wrestling on how God could be using a godless nation to bring such judgment on Israel, see the Book of Habakkuk).

The psalm pleads with God that He to not forget them, to act toward His people according to the covenant, and – this is the ultimate concern – to take the redemption of His people as His own cause (vs. 22). These are not just Israel’s adversaries, but God’s. Of course, we can see now, in hindsight, that God was refining those who were faithful to Him. The abandonment of Israel would not be permanent. His judgment would be severe but not final.

This psalm teaches us how to respond to life’s most dire circumstances, even when we have caused our own difficulties because of sinful decisions and ungodly behavior. God will bring judgment on us, even using wicked people in our lives, to bring us back to Himself, to see that our lives are ultimately about God and His glory. He wants to restore us to being His loyal followers.

This is one application of the truth enunciated by the apostle Paul when he wrote:

We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28)

Sometimes the good our Lord wants for us requires unpleasant circumstances as He molds us to be more like Christ. Our dire situations are His tools to lead us away from sinful behaviors, ungodly attitudes, and self-centered pride.

Lord, when You bring judgment for my sin by using the wrong deeds of others, I will still embrace Your purpose in my life more than my comfort. Thank you for not giving up on me completely.