In Wrath Remember Mercy: Psalm 79-Supplication through the Scriptures

In Wrath Remember Mercy

Psalm 79

Whenever God visits us with the rod, and our own conscience accuses us, it especially becomes us to look to His hand.

John Calvin

What is the goal of the Lord’s discipline? For what purpose does He chastise His children? Does He discipline in a punitive sense, dealing out retribution to His people? Does He delight to give us what we are due in light of our disobedience? When under the discipline or chastisement of the Lord the answers to these questions help us to persevere when the hand of the Lord seems heavy upon us.

Hebrews 12:5-11 is a great text to turn to when considering the chastisement of the Lord. The text is rich, but we will just consider a few helpful reminders about the discipline of the Lord.

The Lord disciplines those He loves, and disciplines them because they are His sons (12:6-7). When we are under the discipline of the Lord, we should be thankful that we are not left to our own ways. If we remain without discipline, it would mean we are not His children. It is because of His great love for us that He corrects us. When experiencing discipline, we can say to our soul, “This discipline is difficult, but I know that my Father loves me and does not want to allow me to continue in my current state of immaturity or sinfulness. In mercy, He is working in me His life.”

He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness (12:9-10). In His discipline, God is not punishing us in the sense of giving us what we are due because we have sinned. All our punishment was borne by Christ on the cross. We no longer need to fear condemnation and retribution for our sin. However, that doesn’t mean we no longer suffer consequences or discipline because of our sin. The goal of the Lord’s discipline is always reconciliation and restoration. He disciplines in order that we might be restored to a right fellowship with Him, which is for our good. And He disciplines us in order to help us purge sin and partake of His holiness. So when we are under His chastising hand, we should quickly agree with Him about our sin and pursue holiness (12:14).

Lastly, He disciplines us to produce in us His righteousness (12:11). Discipline is a training ground. Where once we were using the members of our body as slaves of sin, now through the training discipline of the Lord, we are presenting the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness for holiness (Romans 6:17-19). The discipline itself is not joyful but is sorrowful. Discipline hurts, but the product of a holy life that it yields means that the momentary sorrow is worth it.

In Psalm 79, the psalmist is lamenting the discipline the Lord has brought on His people. He knows that it is because of their own sinfulness that the Lord has brought this calamity of the destruction of Jerusalem upon them (79:8). So he cries out to the Lord, “let your compassion come speedily to meet us” (79:8). He does what Calvin encourages us to do,“Whenever God visits us with the rod, and our own conscience accuses us, it especially becomes us to look to His hand.” In chastisement, the psalmist turns to the Lord. Longman says that this turning to the Lord “communicates their repentance” and they are now asking God to move beyond judgment to restoration. The psalmist makes the same cry that Habakkuk does, “In wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2). “The laments are refusals to settle for the way things are. They are acts of relentless hope that believes no situation falls outside of Yahweh’s capacity for transformation” (Brueggeman). This lament of Asaph longs for the transforming power of God in their situation. He longs for God to deliver them and be merciful. Asaph ends the psalm in grateful praise knowing his Shepherd will continue to care for the people of His pasture.

There is no situation that God cannot transform, and that includes our inward man. When the Lord chastens us to produce in us His holiness, He is not facing “mission impossible.” We will be transformed. We will be partakers of His holiness. He will be merciful in His discipline. Like Asaph let us cry out, “let your compassion come speedily to meet us!” And let us turn to Him in grateful praise that He loves us and He is working for our good, even in the discipline we receive.

Complaint Poured Out*

79:1-4 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.

Let’s pray:

▫️We would be thankful that the Lord’s discipline is based on our sonship and His deep love.

▫️We would yield ourselves to the Lord’s training, put sin to death in our lives, and pursue holiness. What has your current situation revealed about your heart?

▫️We would trust that this discipline is for our good and we would not grow weary.

Prayer Presented

79:5-12 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name! For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes! Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die! Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!

Let’s pray:

▫️We would honestly and humbly come to the Lord with our questions about our suffering, and we would honestly and humbly search our own hearts for what resides there that must go. Do you have honest questions to ask the Lord about your suffering?

▫️We would confess our sin and rejoice that in Christ all our punishment has been paid.

▫️The Lord’s compassion would come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

▫️The Lord would help us for the glory of His name. He would be the God of our salvation moment by moment today. Appeal to the God of our salvation for His help to bear you up.

▫️Our groans would come to His ear and He would preserve us according to His great power.

Praise Promised

79:13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Let’s pray:

▫️He would work in us what is well pleasing in His sight because He is the great Shepherd of the sheep of His pasture (Hebrews 13:20-21)

▫️His discipline would lead to purer praise and thanksgiving to Him for His care of our souls.

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

*headings taken from Spurgeon’s commentary

Photo credit to sapegin.

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