Embrace the Word for Monday, June 8, 2026

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Psalm 74 is filled with deep sorrow. While the superscription does not offer any historical details, the content of the Psalm itself provides imagery that suggests the destruction of the Temple. The historical accounts of the Temple are located in 2 Kings 24-25, and 2 Chronicles 36:17-21, as well as Jeremiah 52. For instance, Psalm 74, in reference to the Temple states: “They set your sanctuary on fire” (74:7a). This language corresponds to the historical account of the Babylonians burning down the Temple (see 2 Kings 25:9). The superscription does tell us that this is another Psalm by Asaph: “A Maskil of Asaph.” The term “maskil” can either refer to the skill needed in playing the tune or that the Psalm conveys important wisdom. There might be occasions when both options are applicable to a particular Psalm. Psalm 74 shares some links with Psalm 73. Both Psalms use the term “ruin” (73:18; 74:3); speak about the “sanctuary” (73:17; 74:3,7); describe scoffing (73:8: 74:10) and violence (73:6; 74:20); and refer to “portion” or “heritage” (73:26; 74:2). Psalm 74 begins with lamenting the destruction of the Temple (74:1-11); then it moves to recalling the LORD’s past rescues (74:12-17); and it concludes with praying for the LORD to rescue His people once again (74:18-23).

Psalm 74 opens with asking God why: “O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?” (74:1). The question of why brackets this first unit: “Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!” (74:11). The question of why as well as how long, reflects the struggle of faith, not the absence of faith. Asaph asks how long in this same unit: “How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?” (74:10). The last Psalm of Book 3 asks the same haunting question: “How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?” (See Psalm 89:46).  The damage done to the Temple by the enemy (most probably in this case Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians) is what has prompted theses questions to the LORD. Asking these questions is not quarreling with the LORD but it is an honest admission of confusion before the LORD. Asaph is confused as to why the LORD has seemingly cast Israel off in anger, why the LORD has allowed the enemy to apparently be victorious over Israel, and why the LORD has not unleashed His justice against the enemy. As soon as Asaph asked why, he immediately appealed to the LORD for help: “Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt” (74:2). This appeal is rooted in the covenant relationship that the LORD has established with Israel, which contained many promises, including the assurance of a Temple in Jerusalem.

Asaph specifically refers to the matter of the Temple’s destruction: “Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!” (74:3). Asaph then proceeds to detail what the enemies have done: “Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs. They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees. And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land” (74:4-8). Like roaring lions, Israel’s enemies attacked the Temple. They began hacking away at the Temple like a lumberjack in the forest, before setting it on fire and burning it to the ground. They “set up their own sign” even as they removed all of Israel’s signs: “We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long” (74:9). The references to “signs” refers to the visible symbols that point to the LORD. These symbols, perhaps such as the Ark of the Covenant, along with the faithful proclamation of God’s Word have been removed. Instead the Babylonians installed their own symbols reflecting their own gods whom they would have credited with giving them this victory. Asaph pleads with the LORD to stop the enemy from such disregard for the honor of the LORD (74:10), and asks the LORD to destroy those who are making a mockery of His reputation.

As Asaph turns from recounting with great sorrow what the enemies have done to the Temple, he begins recounting past mighty acts of God: “Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth” (74:12). Asaph knows the God to whom he has made his appeal. The King of Heaven is Asaph’s king and his king is a God with a mighty and faithful history. What Asaph does next is to specifically delineate some of the ways that the LORD has rescued His people in the past: “You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter” (74:13-17). Asaph’s emphasis, as he recounts in poetic language, is how the LORD rescued Israel from Egyptian captivity by opening the Red Sea and destroying Pharaoh’s army (74:13-14), led them through the wilderness by providing water (74:15a), delivered them safely into the Promised Land by stopping the Jordan River (74:15b) and then ordered their lives as they dwelt in the Land (74:16-17). God had worked mightily on behalf of His people, and Asaph knew this Mighty God. What Asaph knew about his God shaped the way he looked at the crisis before him. The Temple has been destroyed and for that Asaph is filled with sorrow. But Asaph’s God was the God who parted the sea and stopped the rivers, the God who drew up water from a rock in the desert, and the God who sustains the proper order for creation to exist. What we know to be true about God should be the most influential thing that gives shape to how we face the sorrows of our present crises.

What Asaph knows to be true about the LORD therefore drives how he prays. This last unit of Psalm 74 lists out 9 petitions. An awareness of the mighty and faithful acts of God does not render prayer unnecessary; it informs and gives confidence to prayer. We certainly can rest in the LORD who is mighty and faithful, but such rest should not be construed to mean that we can relax when it comes to the work of prayer. Asaph does not relax from prayer, he is reinvigorated to pray! Asaph first prays for the LORD to act in accordance with His promises: “Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name” (72:18). It is of such importance that the LORD remember His promises and act commensurate with His character that Asaph asks a second time for this matter of remembering: “Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!” (72:22). What is particularly stressed in both verse 18 and 22 is for the LORD to remember what He promised to do with those who mock the LORD and smear His name. Thus, the plea to remember is actually a request for the LORD to put a stop to what the foolish foes are saying and doing. But Asaph’s petitions are not merely to put a stop to what the enemy is doing, he also petitions the LORD to protect His vulnerable and defenseless people: “Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever. Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name” (74:19-21). As a result of the Babylonian invasion, Israel was left weak, humiliated, afflicted, and shamed. But Israel’s enemies have not simply risen up against them, but against their God: “Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!” (74:23). Thus, Asaph appeals to the LORD: “Arise, O God, defend your cause.”

As we reflect on Psalm 74 we can consider the grounds upon which Asaph could approach the LORD and request His help. Asaph’s appeal is rooted in two inseparable truths. First, Asaph acknowledges that he is a part of, “the sheep of your pasture” (74:1b). Second, which is the reason that he is a part of the LORD’s flock is the fact that, “you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage” (74:2b). Asaph is a part of the LORD’s flock because the LORD had purchased him as such. These two realities for Asaph are not unique to him, but are in fact realities for all who belong to Jesus. The Apostle Paul, in his words to the Ephesian elders, links these two truths to the Lord Jesus Christ: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (See Acts 20:28). God’s people belong to Him because Christ has purchased us (See 1 Peter 1:19). Christ purchased His people by laying down His life for us with the outcome being that His people are brought into His flock (See John 10:7-16). It is the reality that all who trust in Christ are recipients of His redeeming work, thus we are brought into His flock, and therefore we are never without the grounds and basis upon which we can call upon Him for help: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (See Hebrews 4:16). In the crisis that Asaph (and Israel) was facing, the LORD was there to hear His flock cry out in the midst of their struggles. Not only can the Lord’s flock cry out to Him, but Christ will keep His flock until they safely reach their heavenly home: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (See Romans 8:38-39).

That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, June 8, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, June 10, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 75.