Psalms 74:1-16: a reflection

1God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived. 3Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. 4Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs. 5They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees. 6Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers. 7They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name. 8They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped. 9We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long. 10How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever? 11Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them! 12Yet God is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth. 13You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. 14You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures. 15You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers. 16The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

This psalm is a raw lament. The sanctuary has been destroyed, the enemy has done terrible damage, and the psalmist cries out in anguish: God, why have you rejected us forever? How long is the enemy to scoff? There is no pretense here, no forced cheerfulness; only honest grief poured out to God. And yet, in the midst of the lament, the psalm turns to remember: Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the earth. He recalls God's mighty deeds of the past, dividing the sea, and anchors his troubled heart there.

Notice the movement in this lament: honest grief, and then the turn to remember God's past deeds. The psalmist does not hide his anguish or pretend the devastation away; he pours out his complaint honestly to God. But he does not stay only in the complaint; he turns, in the middle of it, to remember who God is and what he has done: yet God is my King of old, who worked salvation in the earth. The remembering does not erase the grief, but anchors the troubled heart in something solid.

That movement is one our own laments can follow. When we are in devastation and grief, it is right to pour out our anguish honestly to God, not pretending or forcing cheerfulness. But it helps, in the midst of the grief, to turn and remember who God is and what he has done in the past, to anchor the troubled heart there. When you are in a season of grief and cannot see God's hand, pour out your honest lament to him; but do not stay only in the complaint. Turn, as this psalm does, to remember God's faithful deeds of old, and say, yet God is my King. The remembering will not erase the grief, but it will anchor you in the midst of it, holding your troubled heart to the God who has worked salvation before, and can again.

Lord, this psalm is a raw lament: the sanctuary destroyed, the psalmist crying, why have you rejected us forever, how long is the enemy to scoff; and yet, in the middle of it, he turns to remember, yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the earth, anchoring his troubled heart in your deeds of the past. Let my own laments follow that movement. When I am in devastation and grief, it is right to pour out my anguish honestly to you, not pretending or forcing cheerfulness. But it helps, in the midst of the grief, to turn and remember who you are and what you have done, to anchor my troubled heart there. When I am in a season of grief and cannot see your hand, help me pour out my honest lament to you; but keep me from staying only in the complaint. Help me turn, as this psalm does, to remember your faithful deeds of old, and say, yet God is my King. The remembering will not erase the grief, but it will anchor me in the midst of it, holding my troubled heart to you, who have worked salvation before, and can again. Anchor me in remembering you, Lord, even in my grief.