Psalms Challenge Week 4
This week we meet a new author of Psalms, Asaph. Asaph had an awesome job. He was a Levite and a head musician for King David. In Chronicles, we find he was responsible for worship in front of the Ark of the Covenant. (1 Chronicles 16:37) Remember, the Ark of the Covenant was the place where God’s spirit dwelt. Asaph had the privilege of leading worship in the holiest room of the Tabernacle, in the very presence of God.
That might not sound like a big deal to us. Worshipping in God’s presence is constantly available to us because of the Holy Spirit. Through our connection to Jesus, God’s presence lives in us. Often, I think we forget the amazing blessing we have as believers after Christ’s resurrection. God is always with us.
This was not true of people living in the time of Asaph. God’s presence only came to people in certain circumstances. Have you heard the story of the burning bush? That is an example of God’s presence coming to Moses. Mount Sinai, the Tabernacle, the cloud and fire that led the Israelites through the desert — these are all examples of God’s presence coming to earth.
You are probably wondering what all this has to do with this week’s Psalms? A lot.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the Psalms are expressions of emotion. For us to fully understand the Psalms, we must understand the circumstances facing the authors. Then, we can connect ourselves to their words more deeply.
Let’s look at Psalm 74. Here we see Asaph crying out in distress as he watches evil triumph. He asks the Lord, “How long, O God, will you allow our enemies to insult you? Will you let them dishonor your name forever?” (Psalm 74:10)
How many times have you looked at events in the world and wondered why God lets them happen? Have you ever wondered how long God will allow evil to prosper? It is disheartening to watch people get away with injustice.
I’m sure we’ve all wondered, how long will you allow this to continue, Lord?
It makes sense that we can relate to Asaph’s feelings. You see, Asaph wrote Psalm 74 about the Babylonian exile. God’s people had been captured and taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. The Tabernacle was destroyed, the Ark of the covenant was stolen, the walls and city of Jerusalem were left in ruins. Asaph lost his home and God’s presence. He was living in a foreign land among people with very different beliefs and customs. Asaph was living in exile.
Friends, so are we. It should not surprise us when we look around this earth and wonder what is going on. We shouldn’t be surprised when evil seems to take over and culture dishonors God. This world is not our home, we are living in exile. Our home is in heaven.
God created us to live in His eternal presence, in peace under His love and care. The more connected we become to God, the more uncomfortable we will feel on earth.
At this point you might be thinking, Trisha, are you telling me that for the rest of my life here on earth I am just going to have to be discouraged and uncomfortable? Are you saying the rest of my days I will live brokenhearted and disappointed? Is that what I signed up for when I chose a life with Jesus?
I’m not saying that at all. Choosing a life with Jesus gives us an advantage - the Holy Spirit. John 14 says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,” (verse 16). In the highs and lows of life in exile, surrounded by evil and danger, God has promised to be with us. His spirit lives in our hearts and gives us everything we need to not just survive these days in exile – but to thrive.
I love this promise in Ephesians 3:14-21 -
“For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Yes, life in exile is difficult. It may seem as if evil is winning as culture slips further and further away from God. Yet, each one of us who carries God’s spirit in our hearts has the strength to live abundantly, even in exile.
Asaph, although he experienced exile, writes these words in Psalm 75 —
“But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked,
But I will increase the power of the Godly.”
I pray that as we live these days in exile, each of us lives with the strength and power that comes from God’s spirit living in our hearts. May each of us say, “As for me, I will always proclaim what God has done.”