The quest for justice did not begin with the death of George Floyd. It didn’t even begin when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1954. In fact, it didn’t begin with the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620, or even of the Magna Carta in 1215.
No, Asaph wrote this psalm sometime after the Babylonians destroyed the Temple of Solomon in 587 BC. And by the time Jesus was born, Judea had been under the thumb of unbelieving foreigners for hundreds of years.
No, it’s no wonder that generation after generation of God’s people have sung along with Asaph: “How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?” Perhaps you’re asking that question today too.
But isn’t it interesting? After lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem and before asking God to remember His covenant, Asaph spends six verses recalling God’s work in creation. He thinks about how God formed the seas and the rivers, how God set all the stars in the heavens and how God established the changing of the seasons (Psalm 74:12-17).
So, what does this digression into natural history have to do with Asaph’s pleas for justice? Everything, really. For doesn’t the magnitude of God’s creation put so many of our urgent, pressing concerns into their proper perspective? I mean, how many of us really know what all those English barons were so concerned about when they cornered King John at Runnymede? Do we really understand why the Pilgrims were so anxious to get to America? No, by tearing down a statue of Ulysses Grant in the name of racial equality, San Francisco rioters have made it clear that even the greatest efforts to further the cause of justice will eventually be forgotten by the coming generations. But all the while the stars remain fixed and the seasons come and go according to God’s design.
And that’s the best news of all – the God Whose unimaginable power created everything that exists is the same God to whom Asaph cries out for justice. And Asaph could make his appeal with confidence because of the covenant God had already made with His people (Psalm 74:20). Asaph thus relied on the promise God made to David that one of his descendants would rule forever (II Samuel 7:16). He relied on the promise God made to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the unchanging stars in the heavens (Genesis 15:5) and that they would live in the land He had promised to them (Genesis 12:7; 15:16)
And we can rely on those promises as well, since they’ve all been fulfilled in the coming of Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the One Who will come again to bring justice even to the worst of the world’s oppressors. So, no matter how great the forces of injustice may seem today, let us continue to trust in our righteous King to set all things right – in His way, and in His time.
Psalm 74 (NASB)
A Maskil of Asaph . O God, why hast Thou rejected us forever? Why does Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?
2 Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast purchased of old, Which Thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of Thine inheritance; And this Mount Zion, where Thou hast dwelt.
3 Turn Thy footsteps toward the perpetual ruins; The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of Thy meeting place; They have set up their own standards for signs.
5 It seems as if one had lifted up His axe in a forest of trees.
6 And now all its carved work They smash with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have burned Thy sanctuary to the ground; They have defiled the dwelling place of Thy name.
8 They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.” They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs; There is no longer any prophet, Nor is there any among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary revile, And the enemy spurn Thy name forever?
11 Why dost Thou withdraw Thy hand, even Thy right hand? From within Thy bosom, destroy them!
12 Yet God is my king from of old, Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength; Thou didst break the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan; Thou didst give him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 Thou didst break open springs and torrents; Thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.
16 Thine is the day, Thine also is the night; Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast established all the boundaries of the earth; Thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O LORD, that the enemy has reviled; And a foolish people has spurned Thy name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Thy turtledove to the wild beast; Do not forget the life of Thine afflicted forever.
20 Consider the covenant; For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the oppressed return dishonored; Let the afflicted and needy praise Thy name.
22 Do arise, O God, and plead Thine own cause; Remember how the foolish man reproaches Thee all day long.
23 Do not forget the voice of Thine adversaries, The uproar of those who rise against Thee which ascends continually.
