A Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Prayer for Help.
A Psalm of Asaph.
79 O God, the nations have [a]invaded Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your holy temple;
They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem;
And there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and derision to those around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You,
And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob
And laid waste his [b]habitation.8 Do not remember [c]the iniquities of our forefathers against us;
Let Your compassion come quickly to meet us,
For we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;
And deliver us and [d]forgive our sins for Your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let there be known among the nations in our sight,
Vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed.
11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
According to the greatness of Your [e]power preserve [f]those who are doomed to die.
12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom
[g]The reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.
13 So we Your people and the sheep of Your [h]pasture
Will give thanks to You forever;
To all generations we will tell of Your praise.
Based on the destruction of Jerusalem referenced in the first verse, it is believed this psalm was written during the Babylonian captivity. Unlike previous times of oppression, most of the Israelites were carried into captivity far from their homes. But as they did previously after God’s judgment, they cried out for God’s mercy.
They asked God to remember them, and forget their sins, and especially the sins of their fathers, and rescue them from Babylon. What hope did they have in such a request? It’s possible they knew of the prophecy that they would be in exile for 70 years, but if not, then they had only to look at their history, or more likely remember their history–which was very oral, even if they didn’t have written copies available, and they probably didn’t.
One loses count of how many times they rebelled, as we saw this in the previous psalm, but every time they cried out to God, he heard their cry. Even in the case of Gideon, his own family had built an idol shrine on a hill. They were actively rebelling against God, and He still selected Gideon to play a part in His rescue plan. Why? Because they asked, and because God is merciful.
How many times have you heard it play out: someone asks, “Why didn’t you tell me about X?” And the reply is most often, “Because you didn’t ask…” Very little (if anything) comes from God if we don’t ask for it. We are not rescued from sin just by breathing, we don’t have the redemption of Jesus’ death applied to our lives automatically. Forgiveness comes when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9), and Jesus himself said “Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.”
Now slow down a second, that doesn’t mean we get whatever we ask for, but it does mean if you ask for nothing, that’s exactly what you’ll get. God knows what we’re going to ask for before we ever ask, yet He can’t (or won’t) answer a question that hasn’t been asked. We aren’t “changing God’s mind”, but we are doing our part in His plan when we ask for what He wants to do in our lives.
There’s a quote by Saint Augustine, “Pray as though it all depends on God. Work as though it all depends on you.” God isn’t looking to lavish his love upon a bunch of lazy bums, and it starts by looking to Him, “letting our request be made known” and trusting Him with the results. Again, that doesn’t mean we sit around twiddling our thumbs while we wait for an answer. That (most often) means we listen for God’s voice, and then do what He asks, so He can work through and in us.