¹O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance; They have defiled Your holy temple; They have laid Jerusalem in ruins … ⁵How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

This psalm gives a contemporary update on the previous psalm, where we read of the history of God rescuing His people, Israel, from their darkest times with His miraculous interventions, even after they had rebelled and come far short of God’s ideal. The psalm writer there lays out a plan for educating future generations of Jews so they remember all of God’s wonderful works on behalf of His people.

Now, in Psalm 79, we read of the psalmist adding, in real-time, his own difficult time of suffering at the hands of oppressors while struggling with God’s silence and seeming inactivity. He appeals to God for a miraculous rescue, with the same purpose as in Psalm 78, that future generations will know God is always there for His people. He will act on their behalf, even if the timing may not meet their immediate desires. The difference, though, is the present psalm questions whether God will come through for him and the people of Israel in what seems to be a worse disaster than anything in their history. At that moment, it didn’t seem likely.

This psalm is written from within complete disaster, as laid out in the first four verses: Israel had been invaded and overrun, the temple in Jerusalem, which was the rallying center of the nation, had been destroyed, human bodies were littering the landscape being fed on by animals, decaying corpses and blood were everywhere. This sounds like an “R” rated movie come to life, in all its horribleness. The shame that naturally accompanies those defeated in war had reduced Israel to being derisively mocked by others. The brutality of war, which has been academicized and intellectualized by historians, was gross for those who saw it realistically. The psalm writer describes what he sees, not to appeal to prurient interests, but to help us see the absolute tragedy through “eyes on the ground” from within which he writes. The destruction by any assessment is a complete undoing of all God had done to bring them into a better and prosperous life in the Promised Land, where they were to bless all humankind. Instead, after some twelve hundred years, all the hopes of Israel, as the special, elect people of God were now completely demolished. While God rescued His people in the past, the present circumstances seemed more dire than all that had gone before.

So when the psalm writer questions God, we sense a groaning, not just because of the theological implications, but the emotional and practical perspective, as one “who knows of which he speaks.” How easy is it for us to say from the comfortable armchair, 2,500 years later, that the people of this psalm should trust God! Imagine standing there with them amidst the human disaster. Superficial faith falls away to the integrity of doubt. Indeed, faith is strengthened by doubt, so long as we take our doubts to the Lord—and that is what the psalmist does in the face of unimaginably terrible events. “How long?” (vs. 5). He argues his case before Yahweh, whose name means He will always be actively involved in Israel’s life. How long is this going to go on?

Notice he doesn’t picture God as distant and uninvolved but acknowledges that the Lord is angry with Israel. This is not the sub-spiritual mindset of a distraught individual, but an accurate assessment of the problem’s cause. God had promised that Israel’s continued sinning through idolatry would bring judgment. He is a jealous God who will not tolerate the affections of His people going to false gods. The psalmist’s concern is whether God’s endgame plan for Israel includes their termination as a nation of promise.

In the pain of suffering God’s judgment, the psalmist reaches out to God for relief from the tool of His judgment, namely those causing the appalling circumstances (vss. 6-7). Further, he asks God to overlook Israel’s sins from previous generations (vs. 8). After all, why should the present Israel pay for the sins of the past Israel? While God treats all of Israel through history as one body interrelated by their common position as God’s chosen people, each generation shares in the judgment because of their own sins against God.

Yet in all this, the writer knows of and calls upon God’s compassion for them. This thread weaves through Israel’s history, that although judgment is deserved, God’s compassion overcomes His anger when people humbly repent. If we are to imitate the writer, then we, too, must:

• • Confess that our only hope is that God’s compassion encompasses us (vs. 8b).
  • Abandon our pride and recognize our humble (“very low”) position before Him (vs. 8c).
  • Call to God for our salvation and to no one or nothing else (vs. 9a).
  • Concern ourselves with God’s glory and reputation (“for the glory of Your name”), not ours (vs. 9b).
  • Ask for His forgiveness (vs. 9c).

We may find it difficult to ferret out the genuine desire for God’s reputation from our inherently human desire to make life better for ourselves with less suffering and shame. But faith is forged in the burning fire of trials to refine our trust in the Lord (see 1 Peter 1:6-9). We often pray with mixed motives, which we should not think unusual. The Lord knows this and can separate the self-beneficial aspects of our prayer requests from the God-glorifying desires of our hearts. However, it may not be all that important for us to obsess over purifying our desires in that way. The psalm pours out both to the Lord.

So, the last four verses do not reflect the desire that God would vindicate Israel as being better than the other nations around them, but that He would vindicate Himself as being faithful to Israel despite their unworthiness. His favor toward Israel was not a reward for their keeping the law; it was totally undeserved; in other words. God is gracious as a fundamental and defining characteristic of who He is. Do we not see this clearly in Christ’s death on the cross for us? “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). We believers today are not a showcase of morality and spiritual superiority over non-believers, but we are God’s trophies of His grace! And this is the testimony we need to pass on to the next generation of believers—our Lord is a gracious God!

Lord, I resonate with and echo this psalm’s confession of faith and praise: So we Your people and the sheep of Your pasture will give thanks to You forever; to all generations we will tell of Your praise. (Ps. 79:13)