{"id":3631,"date":"2020-07-21T16:19:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T23:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3631"},"modified":"2020-07-21T16:19:37","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T23:19:37","slug":"hobart-herd-devotional-psalms-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3631","title":{"rendered":"Hobart Herd Devotional – Psalms 74"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hobart Herd Devotional – Psalms 74<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   This Psalm in a prayer of lament and appeal\nto God to remember His people and not forget His covenant with them as they\nfaced the destruction of their enemies. \nAs I read this Psalm, I almost thought of what it must have been like to\ngo through the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple when Nebuchadnezzar and\nthe Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and took God\u2019s people as captives.  We may even think this of our nation, founded\non Biblical principles, we now find ourselves being destroyed from within\nbecause we have turned away from God. \nThis prayer could be ours today.<\/strong>   Psalms 74:1-2, 1       Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your anger\nsmolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2  Remember\nthe people you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you\nredeemed– Mount Zion, where you dwelt.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   In verses 3-9 we have the lament over the\ndestruction and the description of all that had been destroyed by the\nenemies.  The cry ends with the\ndevastation of the worship place of God and the lack of prophets to tell the\npeople what to do.(vs. 6-9)  We are\nliving in a time when worship places are being burned and destroyed as the\nenemies of God try to take away our ability to worship God.  All around the world, Christians are being\npersecuted, and martyred for their faith. \nIn China, Christians are being told to renounce God and worship the\nemperor.  I think we have a hard time\nunderstanding the heart of the Israelites as they had been told that they could\nonly worship God in one location as a nation. \nThe destruction of the temple was devastating as according to the Law\nand commands of God the corporate worship of God was destroyed.  They could not come to Jerusalem for their\ncelebrations and feasts as well as their sacrifices.  We have faced some of this feeling with the\ninability to worship in our church buildings, but we have the presence of the\nHoly Spirit in the life of the believer who becomes the temple of God by faith\nin Jesus Christ.  I know that I have felt\nthe despair of not being able to meet together and worship in heart and\nsong.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   The prayer becomes an appeal to God for\ndeliverance and help.  After all, if\nthere were no prophets to lead the people (vs. 9), God was going to need to\nstep in and save His people.  The God of\ncreation, deliverance, and salvation became their only hope.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalms 74:12  But you, O God, are my king from of old; you\nbring salvation upon the earth.(NIV)  In\nverses 18-23, Asaph appeals to the Covenant between God and His people.  He reminds God that He has promised to\nprotect His people as they turn to Him.  Psalms\n74:20-21, 20    Have regard for your\ncovenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.  21  Do\nnot let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your\nname.(NIV)  As the dove is a helpless\nbird, the prayer is that God will protect and care for His Dove (vs. 19) and\nkeep His promise to always protect the needy and helpless as they cry out to\nGod.  \u201cRise up, O God, and defend Your\ncause\u201d.(vs. 23)  God will keep His\ncovenant promise to His people as we humble ourselves before Him and praise His\nname.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Father, there are times when all I can do is\nappeal to the promises of Your Word.  I\nsee the destruction and troubles of this world and I can only hold on to the\nCovenant that we have through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Thank You for providing a New Covenant in His\nblood not based on my performance, but on the power of His blood and\nrighteousness.  May You be praised as \u201cI\nwill cling to the Old Rugged Cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.\u201d  In Jesus Name, Amen!  Pastor Rob<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hobart Herd Devotional – Psalms 74    This Psalm in a prayer of lament and appeal to God to remember His people and not forget His covenant with them as they faced the destruction of their enemies.  As I read …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3632,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631\/revisions\/3632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}