Praying the Psalms: Psalm 74

Let’s be honest. I read Psalm 74 and immediately thought to myself ‘Why did you put up your hand to write something on that one?’ It’s not what you’d call a pleasant, heart warming Psalm – not when it starts with ‘You walked off and left us and never looked back. God, how could you do that?’ and ends with ‘Do you hear what they’re saying about you, all the vile obscenities? Don’t tune out their malicious filth, the brawling invective that never lets up.’ (Msg paraphrase) Wow, ‘brawling invective’ – I daresay it’s not the usual word choice you’d find yourself speaking out to God.

And then I remembered my own desperation at the time I chose Psalm 74. My very real concern of physically and mentally breaking down due to significant sleep deprivation and praying over and over, ‘Where are you, God?’ I felt defeated, rejected, ruined, damaged, smashed, cut off from God. If anyone has experienced a time when they’ve been stretched to their limit, they would totally get the ‘why?’ questions in verse 1 followed up by the ‘how long?’ question in verse 11.

I was listening to a podcast this morning and heard an interesting analogy. God places salt on our lips so we thirst for Him. For me at this stage of my spiritual journey, I actually need ‘salt’ – challenges and hardship to realign my perspective and thirst for God in amongst the mess. And when I can’t feel his presence or gain answers to my ‘why?’ questions or get relief from my pain, I need to refresh my understanding of his promises and his character in order to let go of fear and trust he is walking with me through the valley.

I think one of the big ideas of this Psalm is that the stakes are too high for God to abandon his people to defeat and rejection.

I often reflect back on the times God has been incredibly faithful, and verses 12-17 spell out God’s history of dramatic deliverances and displays of power. What a great way of standing firm in his promises, even when the reality of ‘now’ – our world as well as our personal challenges – can look anything but hopeful. God’s name is at stake in this Psalm. His enemies are mocking him. His people are afflicted and in danger. God needs to arise and defend his name and his people. Yet, the end of the Psalm is a classic ‘to be continued’. There’s no resolve. But we like resolve! We like answers. Now! But that’s not life. Thank God we serve a God who walks with us in the mess, listening, understanding and loving us without condition. And maybe if we continue to thirst for him, he will develop in us a strength and perspective that wouldn’t have happened if the road was always easy.

Random final thought – the antonym to ‘invective’ is praise.

– Justine Humphreys