Psalm 74-77
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Introduction
The Psalms we’re going to look at tonight were shaped by two similar events
in the history of Israel
The first event took place in 722 BC, when the Assyrians furthered their
conquest of the world by marching on Israel Israel kingdom of Judah Judah
The second event took place in 586 BC, when the Babylonians were furthering
their world empire. This time the little
nation of Judah Jerusalem Temple Jerusalem Judah
Psalm 74
Maschil of Asaph.
This song was written some time after the Babylonian captivity of 586
BC. It speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem
Asaph – he was one of David’s worship leaders. His descendants continued to serve in the Temple
:1-11 Are we forgotten?
:3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
(Psa 74:3 NLT) Walk through
the awful ruins of the city; see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary.
:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
The enemies' standards in the Temple Temple
:5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
Or, they are destroying the city like men chopping down a forest.
:8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
synagogues – mow‘ed – appointed place, appointed time, meeting
This was probably written before the time of synagogues. Better to see it as “meeting place”.
:9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
(Psa 74:9 NLT) We see no
miraculous signs as evidence that you will save us. All the prophets are gone;
no one can tell us when it will end.
:11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
Ever been through a time like this?
Things look bad and there seems no way out. In fact there might not be a way out.
:12-17 God’s mighty works
:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
the heads – Perhaps talking about the destruction of Pharaoh’s
chariots in the Red Sea
:15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
Water from the rock in the wilderness
The river Jordan
:18-23 Don’t forget us
:23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies
Lesson
God doesn’t always take the problems
away
The Psalmist was wanting God to take away his problems. But in reality, that wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t time.
I think that sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that God is the magic genie who always shows up to take our problems away.
Though He will many times deliver us from our problems, sometimes He chooses to deliver us THROUGH our problems.
Illustration
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
-- African proverb
Psalm 75
To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.
This Psalm is thought to have been written at the time of Hezekiah’s deliverance from the Assyrians (2Ki. 19).
:1-5 Don’t be proud
:2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
Better translation:
(Psa 75:2 NASB) "When I
select an appointed time, It is I who judge with equity.
Lesson
At the right time
How long O Lord? God will deliver at the right time.
For the folks living in 586 BC, it wasn’t the right time. But for those living in 722 BC, when this Psalm was written, it was the right time.
:4 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
Don’t toot your own horn. Don’t get puffed up.
:6-10 God is the one who promotes
:6-7 For promotion cometh neither from the east…
promotion – ruwm – to rise, rise up, be high, be lofty, be exalted
east … west … south –
No mention of “north”. There are a couple of ideas about this:
1. The Assyrians would be attacking from the north. The idea might have been that help wasn’t coming from the north because that’s the direction the trouble was coming from.
2. It could refer to God’s help being in “the north”.
Sacrifices were to be made on the north side of the altar
It is thought that God’s throne was in “the north”. Look at Satan’s boast:
(Isa
Zion
(Psa 48:1-2 KJV)
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in
the mountain of his holiness. {2} Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth, is
Lesson
God will take care of promotion
We need to be careful about where we’re counting on promotion to come from.
(Col
We need to be faithful employees, but there are going to be times when we’re going to get passed up.
God sees you. God sees your faithfulness. He’ll take care of promotion.
:8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
(Psa 75:8 NLT) For the LORD holds a cup in his hand; it is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours the wine out in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs.
(Ps 75:8 The Message) {8} God
has a cup in his hand, a bowl of wine, full to the brim. He draws from it and
pours; it’s drained to the dregs. Earth’s wicked ones drink it all, drink it
down to the last bitter drop!
The cup speaks of God’s judgment.
(Rev 14:9-11 KJV) And the
third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, {10}
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out
without mixture into the cup of his
indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: {11} And the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest
day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the
mark of his name.
(Rev 14:17-20 KJV) And
another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp
sickle. {18} And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over
fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust
in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her
grapes are fully ripe. {19} And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth,
and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the
wrath of God. {20} And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood
came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a
thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Jesus also faced a “cup”
(Mat 26:39 KJV) And he went
a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou
wilt.
His cup also spoke of judgment.
He faced His cup so we wouldn’t have to face ours.
He gave us a “cup”
(Mat 26:27-29 KJV) And he
took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
{28} For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. {29} But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this
fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
kingdom.
He took His cup so we couldn’t have to take God’s cup. He’s given us a cup to remember what He’s done.
Psalm 76
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.
Neginoth – stringed instrument
Psalm of “Shock and Awe”
This is also another Psalm written during Hezekiah’s day, after the defeat of the mighty Assyrian army.
:1-6 God’s fearsome rebuke / The fame of God
:2 In Salem
Salem Jerusalem
:4 Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.
God is more glorious than all the spoil that the Assyrians could have taken
from Jerusalem
:5 The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep
When the people of Jerusalem
:7-12 Honor and Fear God
:10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
(Psa 76:10 NLT) Human
opposition only enhances your glory, for you use it as a sword of judgment.
(Psa 76:10 NIV) Surely your
wrath against men brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are
restrained.
Sometimes God can even use people who oppose Him for His glory.
Illustration
When the infidel Robert G. Ingersoll was delivering his lectures against Christ and the Bible, his oratorical ability usually assured him of a large crowd. One night after an inflammatory speech in which he severely attacked man’s faith in the Savior, he dramatically took out his watch and said, “I’ll give God a chance to prove that He exists and is almighty. I challenge Him to strike me dead within 5 minutes!” First there was silence, then people became uneasy. Some left the hall, unable to take the nervous strain of the occasion, and one woman fainted. At the end of the allocated time, the atheist exclaimed derisively, “See! There is no God. I am still very much alive!”
After the lecture a young fellow said to a Christian lady, “Well, Ingersoll
certainly proved something tonight!” Her
reply was memorable. “Yes, he did,” she
said. “He demonstrated that even the
most defiant sinner cannot exhaust the patience of the Lord in just 5 minutes!”
:11 Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
Lesson
Keep your word to God.
If you understand who God is and how awesome He is, then keep your promises to Him. Also, be careful that you don’t make your promises too quickly either.
Illustration
Dale
Webster the man of a million waves
With dreary weather and water temperature down to 53 degrees, no one would
say it’s a perfect day for surfing at Salmon
Creek Beach Bodega Bay North California . Nevertheless Dale is there, out in the
Ocean, sliding and dancing between the waves like he’s steadily done for the
last 25 years.
Actually, to be precise, 9,175 days straight; today is October 15, 2000 . Yes, because Dale Webster, or
as some call him, Daily Wavester, has been surfing since September 2, 1975 , when
Bodega-Bay-Surfers’-Disneyland had a fantastic 15-foot
waves week. “I surfed the first day, and then the second. I surfed all 7 days,
and then I thought ‘Let me see if I can keep this going.’” And here he’s after
an uninterrupted life span of surfing, at the beach at the end of his daily
surfing session, dripping cold water from his 5 millimeters thick wet suit, not
to mention gloves, boots and hood, talking about his goal: to surf until
completing a 28-year lunar cycle.
He won’t be content until February 2004 when, at the age of 55, he can
reuse the same tides book he had on that February when everything began long
time ago. Surely he’ll be the first man ever to surf all the waves caused by
the moon in all its calendar phases, perhaps a million in all? He already has a
few records in his pocket: surfing 25 years straight, during hurricane force
winds, with flu, earaches and kidney stones.
His big disappointment: the Guinness Book of Records doesn’t accept any new
entries but those that beat a previous record, and since there’s nothing like
this already in the files, it’s likely that he won’t see his name published any
time soon.
“Sometimes I think of all the things I’ll have missed in my life because of
this. The only thing I’ll have is the memory of riding all those waves, of
seeing all those seals, sea lions and big salmons jumping, and a 20-foot long
white shark which once crossed my way.”
A well paid job is probably his biggest regret. Being tied to such a daily
schedule has forced Webster to quit jobs when they interfered with surfing. So
far, the only reward he has achieved is a free wet suit supply from the
manufacturer O’Neill, since he’s such a good advertisement for durability, and
a kind of wisdom which very likely comes from all that time spent amidst pure
nature, offshore in the water. “I want to be remembered not only for the
surfing record, but also for some good things I left behind.”
In the meanwhile he keeps going and counting, the very last day will be
number 10,407, while people around him get inspiration from his endurance: his
daughter Margo, 13, has never missed a day of school so far. She has also been
surfing since she was 3, but not every day.
If a man can be that committed to surfing, isn’t it a challenge for us to be committed to the Lord?
:12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
(Psa 76:12 NLT) For he
breaks the spirit of princes and is feared by the kings of the earth.
Psalm 77
To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.
This Psalm now belongs back in the time of the Babylonian captivivity.
:1-9 Has God forgotten us? / Sigh of Trouble
:3 I remembered God, and was troubled
It doesn’t seem like God was going to deliver them. And He didn’t.
:6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart
The bathtub was invented in 1850 and the phone in 1875. In 1850, you could
have sat in the tub without having the phone ring.
:9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
Selah – stop and think about it. The Psalm takes a big turn here.
Lesson
A pause makes a difference.
Sometimes it’s good to stop and think awhile.
God is nowhere. God is now here.
Woman without her man is nothing.
How do you punctuate it?
Men: Woman, without her man, is nothing.
Women: Woman, without her, man is nothing.
:10-20 Remembering God’s works / Song of Triumph
:12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
Lesson
Meditate on God’s work
God isn’t always going to bring you through a deliverance as He did with the Assyrians. Sometimes we go through difficult times like with the Babylonians.
What do we do then?
Think about what God has done for you.
Count Your Blessings
– the hymn by Johnson Oatman Jr.
When upon life’s
billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
count your many blessings—name them one by one, and it will surprise you what
the Lord hath done.
Are you ever
burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings—ev’ry doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the
days go by.[1]
Think back on the cross.
Lesson
Talk about God’s work
Talk to other people about the goodness of God.
Answer to depression – reaching out to others.
Get out of depression by giving out in ministry.
:13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary
We learn about God’s ways at church.
:16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee
The parting of the Red Sea .
:19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
Lesson
Knowing Him in difficulties
In verse 13, God’s way was “in the sanctuary”. Here God’s way is in the sea.
We learn about God’s ways in the sea – as God takes us through difficult
times and the Red Sea is parted.
It’s not just about learning principles at church. It’s about learning to let God take us through difficult times.
It’s staying close to Him and learning His help.
Illustration
Those who would be in health do not sit still in their houses to breathe such air as may come to them, but they walk abroad and seek out rural and elevated spots that they may inhale the invigorating breezes. Thus those godly souls who would be in a vigorous spiritual state do not merely think on whatever holy doctrines might come into their minds in the ordinary course of thought, but they give time to meditation, they walk abroad in the fields of truth, and endeavor to climb the heights of gospel promises. It is said that Enoch walked with God. Here is not an idle but an active communion. The road to bodily health is said to be a footpath, and the way to spiritual health is to exercise one’s self in holy contemplation.
-- Charles Haddon
Spurgeon