Sep-08-0507-Longing for the glory of His temple
507_Longing for the glory of His temple Psalm 74 O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt. 3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary! 4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs. 5 They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees. 6 And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. 7 They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. 8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land. Vs. 12-17 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. 15 You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. 16 Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. 17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter. Vs. 22-23 Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day! 23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually! There was a priceless painting that hung in a cathedral in Europe. The artwork had been admired for centuries, not merely because of its beauty but because it represented deep faith and devotion. During an act of vandalism, someone walked in and slashed the canvas with a knife. In a matter of seconds, what had taken the artist months to paint and what generations had cherished was marred almost beyond recognition. When people saw the damage, they were heartbroken—not just because of the financial value lost, but because something sacred, something that represented their shared heritage, had been violated. The good news was that skilled restorers later worked painstakingly to repair it. But in that moment of destruction, the grief was overwhelming. That kind of anguish is what Israel felt when the sanctuary of God was destroyed. Psalm 74 captures this raw lament. It is a psalm attributed to Asaph, though commentators are divided on the exact historical setting. Some suggest it was written when the Babylonians tore down the temple in Jerusalem; others believe it might go back to the loss of the tabernacle at Shiloh in 1 Samuel 4. Whichever event it refers to, the heart of the psalm is clear—it is a desperate cry for God to look upon the ruins of His sanctuary and act.