How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
The Church lies waste, Israel's very name nearly erased, and the people rightly confess their own sins as the cause. Yet they appeal to God's covenant with Abraham, remembering His ancient power displayed in deliverance, and so they plead with Him to end this desperate ruin. This maskil teaches us that affliction compels us to examine ourselves and humble our hearts before God.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 74:1-23
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Though we know not how long yet thou dost. The times and seasons are with thee. When God is reproached, there is hope for us, for it may be he will hearken and avenge his dishonoured name.
Affliction teaches us to pray. God's people here taste desertion but do not mistake it for rejection; they expostulate boldly, as Christ Himself cried out on the cross. Cast down is not cast off. Their complaint turns our eyes upward: they dread God's abandonment more than any enemy's blow, and desire above all to be known and owned by Him.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 74:1-11