512_God, be merciful unto us

Pslam 79 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.

5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call upon your name!
7 For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.

8 Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!

11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
12 Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors
the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Once, after the great preacher Charles Spurgeon had preached a powerful sermon on the need for repentance, a man came to him and said, “Mr. Spurgeon, you have almost persuaded me to become a Christian. But I feel I am too great a sinner. Surely God could not forgive me.” Spurgeon tenderly replied, “My friend, you have underestimated the mercy of God. Your sins are many, but God’s mercy is more. If you will only come to Him, crying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’ you will find that His grace is sufficient even for you.”

That conversation has been repeated countless times in different ways throughout history. This is the only cry of the human heart that acknowledges its sinful failure: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” It is this cry that echoes through Psalm 79, a psalm born out of Israel’s greatest tragedy—the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple by the Babylonians.

The psalm is not just a historical lament. It is the heartfelt cry of an intercessor for a sinful people. He can only plead for God’s mercy on the guilty who nonetheless identify themselves as God’s people, his servants. The prayer acknowledges the sin of the people. They can no longer hide behind their religious observances. They cannot give excuses.

Utter calamity has overtaken them and they have been stripped of all vestiges of God’s presence or protection. It has become plain that God is not pleased with them. He has allowed the temple that carried his own name to be defiled and burned. His people have been slaughtered. Verse 4 sums it up: “We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.” This was the lowest point in their history. Their identity as God’s chosen nation, their pride in their holy city, their confidence in the temple—it had all come crashing down.

This is therefore the prayer of a broken heart. For the psalmist knows why this has happened. It was not Babylon’s strength, but his people’s sin that brought God’s hand against them in judgment. For centuries, God had sent His prophets to his people. He had called them to turn away from idolatry, to keep His covenant and obey his laws. The idolatry and sin of the northern kingdom had already been punished by its captivity and exile. Yet Judah refused to profit by the lesson.

God’s patient mercy stretched across repeated deliverance from their enemies, and increasingly severe warnings of calamity. But they hardened their hearts. They refused to trust Him. Breaking their covenant, they refused to keep the Sabbath rest, the sign of God’s covenant with them. They refused to give the land its Sabbath year rest, for 490 years.

And so God finally gave them into the hands of the Babylonians. Then the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest for 70 years – all that the disobedient people had denied it – as 2 Chronicles 36:20–21 tells us.

Now the psalmist pleads, in verse 8: “Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.” This is the heart of repentance. Simply throwing ourselves as helpless sinners who no longer want to sin, who want God’s deliverance, and fall on the mercy of God.

The Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector illustrates this. The Pharisee, proud of his holiness, uttered not a word of repentance. But the tax collector stood afar off, afraid even to lift his eyes to heaven. Beating his breast, he pleaded, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” And he was heard, and forgiven, and declared righteous. Anyone who humbly comes to God, knowing his desperate need for forgiveness, is sure to receive it and go home satisfied.

Verse 9 of this psalm pleads: “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!” There is no word of their righteousness, for they have none. God must accept their faith as righteousness and atone for their sins, for they cannot. And he did. For Christ is God’s atoning sacrifice, God’s answer to the need for forgiveness, the need of all who come to him in humble trust. For 1 John 2:1–2 declares: “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

In Jeremiah 3:12–13, God pleads with His people: “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God… and that you have not obeyed my voice.’” God asks sinners only to be honest, to humbly acknowledge their guilt, and return to his paths, the only right paths. And he will forgive their sins, for Christ’s sake.

But the psalmist also writhes under the mockery of God’s enemies. He prays for justice, in verses 10–12. The enemies of Israel sneered, “Where is their God?” But God was not powerless. In his time, as he spoke through the prophets, God brought low the Babylonian empire. He is never mocked. The enemies of his people will perish in his time.

Therefore the psalm ends in hope and praise: “But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise” (v. 13). This was no empty promise. The exile broke Israel of its addiction to idolatry. They had many struggles after their return, but never again did they bow before foreign gods. Out of the ashes of judgment came steadfast devotion to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

No matter how low we have fallen, we need to return to God. Once we recognize and are heartily sorry for our offences against him, we can trust him to forgive us for the sake of his name. He will send us back justified, like the tax collector.

And the discipline of God, though painful, is never wasted. Israel’s 70-year exile brought about repentance. When God allows us to taste the bitter consequences of our choices, His goal is always restoration, not destruction. Let us fulfil his desire, and return to Him with broken pride. Casting aside our sin, let us come so that his mercy may be poured out on us.

When we realize and confess our failure, no place is too far to return to God. There is no sin-mark too indelible to be removed by the atonement of Christ. There is no need for us to carry guilt. We do not need to earn God’s favor through our righteousness – and we cannot. All He asks is that we turn from our sins, humbly confess our need, and trust in His mercy.

Like the psalmist, let us pray: “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake.” Like Israel after they returned from exile, let our lives be filled with thanksgiving and praise from generation to generation.

Let our lives bear witness to the truth that His mercy is greater than our sin, His life is stronger than our death, his love stronger than our rebellion. God bless.