The Message of the Psalms

PSALM 74: THE LAMENT OF A LANGUISHING CHURCH

This instructive Psalm (title; Maschil) would have us look
beyond the immediate problems of the Church and see the
work of God as a whole, to look beyond the immediate
enemy of the Church and see the power of God in history
(as creator Vs. 16-17). God is building his Church however
it appears in the immediate circumstances.

1. The Expression of a Languishing Church.

V’s. 1-11 express the lament of the people of God; His
sheep, congregation, redeemed, Zion (Vs. 1-3, cf.
turtledove Vs. 19). V’s. 4-9 lay out the argument of the
prayer; the enemy has plundered the church of God. They
are furious (Vs. 5), their voices fill the sanctuary (Vs. 4), as
they strip the place (I Kings 6:21) of the carved works and
burn the house of God (Vs. 6-7).

V’s. 9-11 only add to the distress; in all of this God is

silent! (Vs. 9), his arms are folded! (Vs. 11). All the signs
that Israel knew of the presence of God in the past, the
Shekinah Glory, the Ark of the Covenant etc. are all gone.
The prophets also have no message for the people. While
the church expresses itself in these lamentable conditions
it is not in unbelieving blasphemy, “why?” or “how can…?”
but rather in faith; it is the question “how long?” (Vs. 1, 10).

2. The Exploits of a Loving God

This is not the prayer of a rebellious or conceited people
who presume of the power of God. It is the prayer of those
who are in relationship with God. The Psalmist next turns
our attention to the historic exploits of God on behalf of His
Covenant people (Vs. 20), His turtledove (Vs. 19). For all
that is going on in the Church and all the distress the
Psalmist turns the subject to God our only hope (Vs. 12
“yet God” cf. Lamentations 3:21).

This Psalm has been used by the persecuted and

languishing Church of God throughout the ages. The
Vaudois in the Alps sang from the first part of the Psalm as
they fled from the persecutors in 1686. Three years later in

2010, Victoria Free Presbyterian Church

 The Message of the Psalms

the Glorious Return they chanted out words taken from the
later half as they returned home after exile for the sake of
the gospel. Let us take comfort his this Maschil of Asaph.

2010, Victoria Free Presbyterian Church