Deliver Us From Evil (Psalm 79:1-8)

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?
⁶ Pour out your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name;
⁷ for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.

⁸ Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.

 ___________

What is striking in today’s psalm is the urgent prayer for God’s wrath to fall upon those who have conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the temple.  Asaph prays for God’s mercy on his own people, but vengeance upon the enemy.

This is another example of an imprecatory psalm, a prayer for God’s judgment upon the enemies.  Asaph had in mind the Babylonians and God did answer his prayer.  The Babylonians were conquered by the Medes and Persians, and under the Persian King Cyrus the Israelites were permitted to return to their home.

But our situation is different.  How do we make this prayer our own?  As I’ve stated before regarding other imprecatory psalms, we do not pray this way regarding any earthly enemy.  Instead we view these prayers through the cross and through the words of Paul in Ephesians 6:10-20.  Our enemies are spiritual.  We pray for God to fight against Satan and his forces, and ultimately to bring them to destruction.  This is what Jesus instructed us to prayer for when he taught us to pray “deliver us from evil.”

So we pray for the destruction of evil, for the defeat of Satan, for the overcoming of spiritual darkness.  This refers not just to Christ’s return in glory but also to our daily struggles with evil, as it seeks to lead us from God’s way, and work harm in our lives.  Understood in this way, these imprecatory psalms are very valuable and very relevant.  No, we don’t have Babylonians to contend with, but we do have a very real enemy, who needs to be reminded daily that he is a loser facing ultimate destruction when Christ returns.

So my prayer today is “deliver us from evil.”  I pray for the work of evil in our world to be undone and the spiritual forces of darkness overcome.  I am praying for this in my own life, as well as throughout the world.

NOTE: I will be away next week, so will not be publishing the Abide Devotion.  The Abide Devotion will resume on September 12.

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