Convenience or Commitment?
“O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name: and delivers us, and purge away our sins, for Thy name’s sake.” Psalm 79:8-9
Psalm 79 was written by Asaph who was, according to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, the choir director of the Jewish temple in the time of King David. He was also a prophet and a poet, and wrote several of the Psalms, although some of them are believed to have been written by his descendants. This particular Psalm was likely written by a descendant because it was written as a prayer over the desolation of Jerusalem which occurred over 400 years after the time of David. The following is a paraphrase of his prayer to God. Does any of it sound like it could apply to today’s world?
“The wicked will try to destroy everything that belongs to God. In the past, they destroyed Jerusalem and many of the Old Testament saints, so many that there were not enough left to bury them. God’s people are hated above all others. How long will God allow His people to be punished for their rebellion? May the wicked who have never honored God know His wrath. May those who have honored God in the past, but fell away into idolatry, then returned, may they receive mercy from God. May their sin be purged for God’s name sake. May the wicked see the wrath of God upon their own heads. May God take revenge upon them for their evil they have committed against His people. May God help those in captivity and show His power through their release, even those with a death sentence. May God bring His wrath seven times greater than their wickedness. Then all God’s people, His sheep of His pasture, will give Him thanks and praises to all generations.”
The writer of this Psalm was very angry at the wickedness that was going on all around him. He was also somewhat perturbed at the sins of his own people. Israel, both the northern kingdom, Samaria, and the southern kingdom, Judah, went into captivity because of their sins. I wonder if all of this turmoil that we are facing is not just judgment upon the wicked, but upon believers as well. One of God’s most used forms of punishment for His people was captivity by their enemies. I Samuel 12:9 tells us that “when they (Israel) forgot the LORD their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab…” The most lengthy captivities were those of Assyria (II Kings 17:23) and Babylon (II Kings 24:10-14). Of course, America is not Israel, but who’s to say that God may have some sort of captivity ahead for our nation. We are already experiencing a loss of some of our freedoms. The church and Christians are beginning to experience some forms of persecution. Those who claim the name of Christ, yet are living like those of the world rather than those who belong to Christ, my former pastor describes as “walking at a guilty distance”. Israel’s main iniquity was that of idolatry. They were worshipping images of stone, metal, or wood after the manner of the idolatrous nations around them. However, idolatry can be anything that comes between a person and the Lord. Since the pandemic, many have left the church, some because they are still fearful of the coronavirus, but some have decided that it is easier to watch church on line rather than going to meet with likeminded folks in corporate praise and worship. The writer of the book of Hebrews was very insistent about worship service in that believers are not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together” so that we can encourage one another particularly as the time for Christ’s return nears.
People crave convenience. Sometimes, things have been made too convenient for folks. That’s good for those who are disabled or otherwise confined to home, but for able-bodied people, many of us have become to be too dependent upon things that require little effort. We have simply become lazy. The government reinforces our laziness by attempting to become all things to us, the “nannie state”, as it is called. If the writer of Psalm 79 could come back from the dead and view our day, he would probably say, “This is not going to end well.” He of all people would know what he was talking about.
Committed and concerned believers cannot right this ship on their own. We can work toward peace, reconciliation, truth, and justice, but only the Lord can heal our land. Prayer is our first line of defense. Besides prayer, we need to stand strong, defend the faith, and don’t let the “cancel culture” crowd or any other folks who would desire to hush us up gain any ground over our first amendment rights to free speech and to worship as we see fit. We must remember that “He that is in (us) is greater than he that is in the world”(I John 4:4), and there’s no doubt about that.