by In Psalm 74, Asaph is asking God to remember His people because their enemy had devastated God’s house. He was trusting that God, who had helped destroy their enemy in the past, would not permit their reproach now. “reproached” in 74:18 is an interesting word, with clear Hebrew context, meaning, “betrothed, contracted for future marriage.” This tells us the enemy was no longer at the gate of the city, but as Jude 1:4 says, they were joined amid the congregation — “For there are certain men crept in unawares.”
After 250 years, “the enemy hath reproached” the congregation in the United States of America. The church that was purchased by the blood of Christ (74:2; Acts 20:28), the body of believers that formed the organism to be the “rod of thine inheritance” through which Christ works (74:2), is being devastated from within by a betrothed enemy.
After 250 years, “thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations” (74:4). The enemy has fiercely come out of the closet in recent years (74:4). The congregation has blindly accepted them because of fame and flamboyance, which has strengthened the enemy (7:5). The congregation’s anemia sanctioned their own devastation by this relentless enemy (74:6-7).
After 250 years, “thine enemies … said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together” (74:8). The enemy’s purpose is utter obliteration, while the congregation has become confused about their God — where is God’s longsuffering (74:9), why is God silent (74:10), has God abandoned us (74:11)?
After 250 years, the congregation must be reminded that “God is my King of old,” that through His redeemed congregation, He is still “working salvation in the midst of the earth” (74:12). We are reminded that God’s power is limitless, that He is in full control of all His creation (74:13-17). By faith, the congregation must trust the battle to the Lord, trusting that we are eternally protected by His “covenant” with us (74:20) — the New Covenant.
After 250 years, our job remains the same, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Purge out the enemy that the congregation may be pure. Thus, our plea is that God will continue to accomplish what He has promised, the redemption and deliverance of His congregation out from the hands of the enemy (74:21-23).
