Psalm 74 tells us how the people of God are surrounded by those who scoff at God a foolishly mock God and His ways. When oh when Lord will you come and smite these foolish people and bring us out of the calamity we are under…
But is that really what is happening? The psalmist here seems to think that God is slow in bringing about the promised relief from the foes, the enemies of God. God has obviously forgotten the plan, and needs to be reminded that the people He has claimed needs to be saved form the world around them.
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
But the psalmist does understand that God is working through the creation and the things that are here, by using them to show forth His power and mercy. He is working in and through the world the way it is…
And the thing the psalmist misses and we sometimes forget is that we are also enemies of God, and foes to those who follow God. When we sin we are not a friend of God, but against God. When we think we have it all figured out and our way is the only way then we are the foe of God and sinning against those who follow God. We are the ones that the psalmist is asking for God to come and remove and smite and relieve those who are following God. When we ask God to remove those who do not believe we are asking for God to remove us from this place…
Anne Lamott writes, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” If we are certain about anything that is controlled by God, then we are not really getting God. We need to live in the promise God has given us and not cling to any certainty that we have made.
So remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day, and remember we are all a part of God’s merry band of fools!
aSacredRebel 