Psalm 74
May 31, 2026
Our Father,
It’s easy to read this Psalm and find ourselves in it.
Perhaps we are wondering why the wicked around us seem to be prospering, while we remain impoverished.
Or maybe we wonder why Christianity is languishing in the United States and unbelief and idolatry seems to be exploding.
Or maybe it’s neither of these things and we simply wonder why it feels like you’re angry with us?
And why it seems like, to use the language of the Psalm, that your hands seem folded into your garment.
Why Lord do I have this chronic illness? Why is my marriage difficult? Why is my family difficult? Why are the Christians around me difficult?
Why do I feel lonely? Or depressed? Or anxious? Why am I wondering where you are?
Why do you cast us off forever?
Lord Jesus, Son of God, be merciful to us sinners and impress upon our hearts the triumphant truths that come in verse 12.
That God my King is from of old. That you have and continue to work salvation in the midst of the earth even if we don’t see it or hear about it.
You divided the sea by your might; no creature or land nor sea is greater than you.
Not even the laws of nature define you: You split open springs and brooks even from rocks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. You made the sun stand still for Joshua, indeed you hung every star in the sky.
God, Yours is the day, yours also the night — you have made summer and winter.
The seasons of darkness where there is no light, the seasons of bitter cold where the fruit is not growing and the leaves are not budding, they are yours.
What we are experiencing is not outside of you and your control.
Moreover, God, for those who believe, you have given our souls the dove of your Holy Spirit, who comforts us and intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
Lord, teach us these things.
Remind us of the covenant, the new covenant you made with your people inaugurating it with the blood of Jesus on the cross.
And in the words of Romans 8, if we have your Spirit and if we have fellowship with your Son, so what can possibly touch us?
For God, in the gospel the downtrodden’s faces are lifted up in honor and the poor and needy (now fed with the bread of life) praise your name.
But Lord, we still, in fear and trembling, because we have confidence to enter into the holy places by the blood of Christ, we ask: How long?
God our Father draw near to us in these times of desperation and confusion. Longsuffer with us. Remind us you are working even in these things – day or night, summer or winter.
And that a day is coming when all of these things will just be bad memories.
Lord, we lift up to you our global partners and our persecuted brothers and sisters who are seeking to make these glorious truths known in a world that desperately needs it.
We pray specifically for D and K – praising you that they are fully funded, but we pray for K’s co-worker as she is very low on support.
We pray for their missionary’s podcast. We pray for lives to be touched and healed through this ministry. We pray for D and his coworkers as they produce weekly devotionals. We pray for those who have questions after hearing the gospel message. We pray for their follow-up team as they respond.
Lord, we lift these things to you: The King of Old, The God of Day and Night, The God of Summer and Winter, The God of the Covenant.
And we lift them in Jesus’ name, and all God’s people said: Amen.