Arise, O God – Psalm 74

“A Mashcil [instruction] of Asaph. O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?” Psalm 74:1

God gave this Psalm to Asaph during a day when he was suffering from affliction. God inspired him to write this Psalm to instruct us.

Asaph laments because Israel’s circumstances are causing them to feel rejected by Him. He wants God to clarify the reason “why” He has withdrawn from His sheep. He is their shepherd. It is normal for sheep to worry about wolves, but not about whether or not their shepherd will protect and provide for them. [1]

“Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—this Mount Zion where You have dwelt.” Psalm 74:2

In Isaiah 43:3-4, the Lord said to Israel, “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, and I have loved you, therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life.”

Matthew Henry commented, “Lord, will You now abandon a people that cost You so dear, and has been so dear to You? And if the redemption of Israel out of Egypt was an encouragement to hope that He would not cast them off, much more reason have we to hope that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with His own blood.” [2]

While on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God my God, why have You forsaken Me?” It was due to our sins that God turned His face from His Son and let Him die on the cross. We needed a perfect, sinless sacrifice for our sins that would remove them forever with one offering.

After Jewish religious leaders betrayed and crucified Christ, was God done with the Jews? No, Paul wrote In Romans 11:1, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”

We must not think that because we are cast down that we are cast off forever. [3] Those who are done with God cast off those who remain faithful to Him. However, in Hebrews 13:5, God’s promise to us who believe in Him is, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

“Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place. They set up their banners for signs. They seem like men who lift up axes among the thick trees. And now they break down its carved work, all at once, with axes and hammers. They have set fire to Your sanctuary. They have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name to the ground. They said in their hearts, ‘Let us destroy them altogether.’ They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land. We do not see our signs. There is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long.” Psalm 74:3-9

Asaph wants the Lord to lift His feet, that is, rise up and inspect the damage. The enemy targeted and destroyed their power plants, that is, the holy places where they appeared before God for His blessing and strength. Like a demolition crew with axes and hammers, they attacked key support beams, toppled meeting places and afterwards burned what remained with fire. Their goal was to eliminate any trace of God from the land. Signs were removed. Prophets disappeared. Was this to be their new normal forever?

Asaph laments the disappearance of God’s holy places. Faith in God is vital to the salvation of peoples’ eternal souls. Abandonment of God does more ruin to a society than any other type of attack. The closure of God’s holy places should grieve us. Jesus taught us to pray to the Father, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done.” May zeal for God’s house consume us!

“O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your Name forever?” Psalm 74:10

Asaph wanted to know how long must he hear people misuse and blaspheme God’s Name.

I praise God for my wife. She honors the Name of the Lord. If someone on a TV show even uses the slang words for God such as “Gosh” (God) or “Jee” (Jesus), she turns the show off.

“Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.” Psalm 74:10-11

The right hand of God is an allusion to Messiah for Jesus Messiah sits at the right hand of God. The right hand is the dominant hand for most people. Asaph wants God to send Messiah to deliver them from their enemies.

Daring defiance against God is detrimental to a society’s development and defense. Israel’s foes took pride in destroying the beautiful carved woodwork in God’s house. God’s house is where God’s Word was read and explained, and where His Name was praised. Israel’s enemies did not want God's worshippers to glorify Him, and edify one another. [4]

Asaph lamented that there were no prophets to tell Israel how long before the spiritual climate improved. People need hope. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord gave a word to the exiles in Babylon, saying to them, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

“For God is my King from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength. You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You broke open the fountain and the flood. You dried up mighty rivers.” Psalm 74:12-15

Asaph quiets his mind and encourages his soul in the fact that God is the covenant-keeping God. He professes God is my King of old and that He is working salvation in the midst of the earth. God divided the Red Sea before them when they came out of Egypt. He compares the Egyptians with sea serpents, and Pharaoh with Leviathan. [5] In Genesis 3:15, God promised that the Seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. Although God brought down the Egyptian snake via Moses and the Israelites, Genesis 3:15 is more completely fulfilled in Christ. Jesus Christ redeems His believers from the power of Satan, sin, death and hell.

God broke open the fountain and the flood, and dried up mighty rivers. In Revelation 12:15-16, the Lord gave John a vision of a serpent spewing out water like a flood after God’s people. But God opened the earth’s mouth to swallow the flood. In Revelation 12:17, the Lord told John that the dragon was at war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

“The day is Yours the night also is Yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.” Psalm 74:16

God opens the eyelids of the morning light, and draws the curtains of the evening shadow. He has prepared the moon and the sun, the two great lights, to rule by day and by night. [6]

“You have set all the borders of the earth. You have made summer and winter.” Psalm 74:17

All the laws and powers of nature are derived from God. He has certainly all power both to save and to destroy. With God all things are possible! [7]

“Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord, and that a foolish people has blasphemed Your Name.” Psalm 74:18

In Acts 16:16-18, Paul turned toward a slave girl who was possessed with a spirit of divination and said to the spirit, “I command you in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. The Name of the Lord is wonderful and powerful. We should always regard it with the highest respect. Only fools do otherwise. In Luke 10:17, seventy disciples reported back to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your Name.”

“O do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast! Do not forget the life of Your poor forever. Have respect to the covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the haunts of cruelty. O do not let the oppressed return ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise Your Name.” Psalm 74:19-21

In Matthew 10:16, Jesus said to His disciples, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” In Psalm 127:1, the Lord says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

Having witnessed the destruction of their places of worship, Asaph committed to God the safety and well-being of His servants. Asaph did not want the Lord to forget that many of His servants are poor and that they serve in dark and cruel places. He did not want them to return from their fields of service in shame. To the contrary he wanted them to return as the seventy disciples of Jesus did with joy. Or as David put it, in Psalm 149:6, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand.”

“Arise, O God, plead Your own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily. Do not forget the voice of Your enemies. The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.” Psalm 74:22-23

Asaph’s cause is really God’s cause.

Our cause is to praise the Name of the Lord and make His praise glorious. Asaph wanted God to silence foolish talk lest like a tidal wave, it sweep the praise of God’s Name away.

In 2 Timothy 2:16-17, Paul wrote, “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene.”

Rather than only defend the influence we have in Christ, let us pray for His kingdom to spread through us and advance into new areas of the world.

Acts 13:49 says, “The Word of the Lord spread through the whole region.” Acts 19:20 says “the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”

Two things that I pray daily are, “Thank You Lord that Your glory covers the earth as the waters cover the sea!” and “Lord, please make Your Word run very swiftly today and may human hearts receive You gladly!” For my online publications, I pray, “Heavenly Father, please use 21st Century Jeremiah publications to help your prophetic speakers to accurately align their messages with the Scriptures even as the prophet Jeremiah did in his day.” Please join with me in these prayers so that the light of God will arise and dispel darkness from peoples’ souls.



[1] Matthew Henry’s Commentary
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Ibid