For the Glory of Your Name
Psalm 79
Main Idea: When suffering brings us low, seeking God’s glory is the way through.
I. A Sorrowful Lament (79:1–4)
Jeremiah 7:33: And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away.
Jeremiah 34:18–20: And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
“God’s people were supposed to be an advertisement to the Gentiles of how great and good a God is Yahweh, but instead (through their unfaithfulness) they have become an object lesson for those nations.”
~ John Collins, ESV Expository Commentary: Psalms
II. A Plea for Justice (79:5–7)
Revelation 6:10: They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
“Although this is indeed an age of grace, an age in which to proclaim the gospel of God's free salvation from sin through the work of Jesus Christ, we should remember that it is not endless. Judgment will be done. Therefore, we should both warn people of this judgment and be diligent in taking the gospel to those who are without it.”
~ James Montgomery Boice, Psalms: An Expositional Commentary
III. A Prayer for Forgiveness (79:8–13)
“The Savior who leads us in singing this song today is the one on whom the fire of God’s jealous, righteous anger burned with infinite ferocity as he took on himself the sins of his people in order that this wrath might be drained to the dregs in his substitutionary sufferings. Then–and only then–the sins of his people would be atoned for, and the name of God be vindicated as his church is rescued.”
~ Christopher Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary
