How Long Lord? Will You Be Angry Forever?

Psalm 79 - A psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
    they have defiled your holy temple,
    they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2 They have left the dead bodies of your servants
    as food for the birds of the sky,
    the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.
3 They have poured out blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and there is no one to bury the dead.
4 We are objects of contempt to our neighbors,
    of scorn and derision to those around us.

5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?
    How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

This psalm is written after the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. God had allowed this foreign power to invade the land and even desecrate the holy temple.  It is a grisly scene.  Bodies are left outside to rot and be food for the birds and animals.  On top of this, they are the “laughing stock” of their neighbors.  I’m sure they are saying things like, “Where is your God now?”  “I guess your God is not very powerful!”

Finally, the psalmist wonders how long will this suffering last? He acknowledges that the people deserve punishment, but he wonders when God will relent.  Is there a limit to the amount judgment the people of Israel are going to get?  And what about the Babylonians? Will they pay for their iniquity of their sin and their defilement of the temple?

He closes by asking for the forgiveness of his people by saying,

 Help us, God our Savior,
    for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
    for your name’s sake.

This prayer is very prophetic.  In it, we see God’s eventual deliverance of His people for His name sake.  God delivered us from our sin by sending Jesus to pay for our sins.  Our enemy, the devil, had defiled the temple and sought to kill God’s elect.  But for the glory of His name, God sent His only Son and for His sake forgives us all of our sin. While the people of God in the Old Testament waited a long time for God to deliver them, at just the right time God sent Jesus into the world not to condemn the world but save it. What the psalmist how longed for had finally come for him and for us!