PSALM 79 - When It All Falls Apart...

Introduction

One of the most well-known Sherlock Holmes stories is the first one in most collections, “A Scandal In Bohemia”. Holmes is asked to help recover an embarrassing photograph of the King of Bohemia and Irene Adler, a famous American opera singer. Holmes tricks Ms. Adler into revealing where she had hidden the photograph by making her believe her house has caught fire. In his words, “When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most… A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box...” (Doyle, A. C. (2014). A Scandal In Bohemia. In Oxford University Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1093/owc/9780199672066.003.0014)

When she thought her house was burning down, Irene Adler acted without thinking--she betrayed the secret that she was trying to keep from Sherlock Holmes by her reflexive grab for what she secretly loved most. Under stress, the real treasure of her heart and life was revealed.

Psalm 79 is another lament over the destruction of Jerusalem; in many ways a parallel of Psalm 74. But while Psalm 74 was an expression of the psalmist’s stubborn hope against hope that God would be faithful to His promises, Psalm 79 is an example of how calamity and destruction reveal the true affections of our hearts.

And I am convinced that we need to address this question; Who are you when it all falls apart? When you are at your lowest; when everything has come apart at the seams, that’s when you find out who you really are. What you really value. When the sky has fallen in and the world has spun out of control and everything you have ever known in your life collapses in bloody heaps, where does your heart go?

Psalm 79 is an account of the time when the entire world of the psalmist literally collapsed in bloody heaps:

Psalm 79:1–3 (ESV)

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 2 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. 3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

EVERYTHING had fallen apart—there was no more government; the king had been taken away to exile. There was no more economy; the land had been so devastated there was no way to earn a living (and no one left to earn money from). There was no more society; entire families had been wiped out—there was no one who had not lost a son or daughter or mother or father or sister or brother. And there was no more worship; the Temple had been looted and destroyed. Everything that the psalmist knew; everything in his entire world was gone.

But what was the foremost thought on his mind? What was the one thing that he was concerned for? His health? His safety? The loss of his home or family or livelihood? It’s true that the psalmist cried out to God to deliver him, but look in verse 9 and see the reason he cried out for deliverance:

Psalm 79:9 (ESV)

9 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!

The reason I am convinced that we need to ask this question is because there are millions of people today who take the name “Christian”, people who believe that God loves them and is pleased with them, but they are on their way to Hell. And the fundamental difference between those nominal “Christians” and a born-again, regenerate believer comes down to this very question: What place does the glory of God’s Name have in your affections? What is uppermost in your affections? What do you delight in more than anything else? This is what sets apart the heart that has been truly born again from the heart that is playing at religion. This is what we read earlier in our worship from Isaiah 26:8:

Isaiah 26:8 (ESV)

8 In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.

What you see in Psalm 79—a psalm that details the end of the psalmist’s whole world—is that the one thing that he desired above all else was the glory of God’s Name.

And so what I want to show you in this psalm today; what I hope you can see here is that

The NAME and RENOWN of God is the most precious TREASURE of the REGENERATE heart.

No matter what the circumstance, no matter what the other desires and needs and joys and delights of your heart, the uppermost affection of a heart that is born again is the glory and renown of the Name of God. The glory of His Name delights you like nothing else—it is the very foundation of all your other joys and affections.

This psalm divides into four sections, and so what I want to do is look at each one in turn and ask a question to help you evaluate your own heart this morning.

The Name and renown of God is the most precious treasure of the regenerate heart. As we read again the first four verses, this Scripture leads us to ask:

I. Is His Name your greatest CONCERN in every CALAMITY? (vv. 1-4)

Look again at verses 1-4:

Psalm 79:1–4 (ESV)

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 2 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. 3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. 4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.

As the psalmist looks at the horrifying devastation of the city and surrounding countryside, he laments the utter carnage and miserable end of the people—to have your body picked clean by birds was the most humiliating and ignoble end imaginable (remember in 1 Samuel 17 how David and Goliath both taunted each other that they were going to feed each other’s bodies “to the birds of the air”?)

But just as we did a couple of weeks ago, look again at how the psalmist talks about the destruction of the people—specifically, look at the pronouns he uses: “your inheritance”, “your holy Temple”, “your servants”, “your faithful...” Where is the psalmist’s focus? Not on his loss, but on God’s loss! The heart that is born again by the Spirit of God delights so much in the glory of God’s Name, that its first question whenever there is a tragedy or calamity is: “How can God’s Name be magnified in this?” The psalmist wasn’t worried about his life for his own sake; he was concerned that God’s Name was going to suffer loss because of the destruction of the city.

Is the Name and renown of God your greatest concern in the face of tragedy,

…or do you only see your own LOSS?

Our own instinctive reaction when we suffer tragedy or calamity is all too often some variation on “Why did this happen to me?!? Look at what I’ve lost!” But the heart that has been born again by the Spirit of God in salvation is even more anxious to say, “God, look what has happened to Your people, the ones called by Your Name!”

Is the Name and renown of God the most precious treasure of your heart? Is His Name the greatest concern in every calamity that comes your way? And in verses 5-7, we find another question to ask ourselves:

II. Is UNBELIEF an INSULT to His Name? (vv. 5-7)

Psalm 79:5–7 (ESV)

5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? 6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name! 7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.

In verse 5, the psalmist uses the covenant name YHWH to call to mind again that God is a God of covenant promises to His people; that He will not in fact, be angry “forever”, that He is a gracious and compassionate and forgiving God.

But notice carefully here, what is the psalmist’s reason for calling on God to pour out His anger on the kingdoms that have devoured Jacob (devoured Jerusalem?)

Psalm 79:6 (ESV)

6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name!

The psalmist cries out to God to take vengeance on those who do not worship Him, because their unbelief is an assault on the glory of the Name of YHWH the Most High God. When you see the same kind of unbelief and blasphemy and ridicule of the Name of God in our world today, does your heart ache because God’s glory is being impugned,

…or do you take it PERSONALLY?

If your heart takes its delight in your own prominence and your own worth, then you will be threatened whenever someone opposes your own convictions. This is what we see all over tarnation in the political sphere, isn’t it? You disagree with my politics, I disagree with your politics, and so we can’t stand to be in the same room with each other! A heart governed by the flesh reacts with spite and malice when our convictions are opposed, but a heart that has been born again in salvation delights in God’s Name over our own—we don’t care if someone opposes or maligns us, but we do feel it when God’s Name is assaulted by unbelief.

The Name and renown of God is the most precious treasure of the regenerate heart. Psalm 79 leads us to examine what place the Name of God holds in our affections—is His Name your greatest concern in every calamity? Is unbelief and insult to His Name or yours? And as the psalmist continues in verses 8-10, we are led to ask our hearts:

III. Is your ATONEMENT the GLORY of His Name? (vv. 8-10)

Psalm 79:8–10 (ESV)

8 Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. 9 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! 10 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!

We noted in our study of Psalm 74 that in that lament over the destruction of the Temple the psalmist did not address the fact that it was the constant, centuries-long sin and disobedience of the people that brought that destruction upon them.

But here in Psalm 79 there is a clear and honest confession of the sin of the nation that brought them so low. In fact, the reference to the bodies of the people being given as food for the birds of the air is a direct reference to one of the curses God warned would be the consequence of breaking their covenant with Him:

Deuteronomy 28:26 (ESV)

26 And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.

The prophet Jeremiah quotes this same verse in his warnings to Jerusalem to repent in Jeremiah 7:33.

The psalmist clearly confesses the sin that has brought this calamity upon them (and it is interesting to note that this psalm is recited to this day in Jerusalem at the Wailing Wall!) But look carefully at the reason the psalmist asks for God to forgive them:

Psalm 79:9 (ESV)

9 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!

The psalmist doesn’t appeal to their own misery as a reason for God to act—he acknowledges that they are utterly unworthy of forgiveness. They have been brought low because of their own sin. The reason that God must forgive them is so that His Name would be glorified! “YHWH, saving us from our sins would be the greatest manifestation of your power and faithfulness!” It wasn’t because of their worthiness that they called on God to save them; but because saving them would make His Name great!

And notice something else that the psalmist tacitly admits about their condition—that they are completely unable to save themselves. I say this because of the way he words verse 9, asking God to atone for our sins. The only way that this psalmist would understand atonement to be possible would be for the priest to enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement—but there was no more Holy of Holies! There was no more Yom Kippur—the Temple had been destroyed and the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat had been carried off to Babylon!

And so the psalmist comes to God—completely guilty of sin and completely unable to atone for his own sin—and simply say, “LORD, bring glory to your Name by finding a way to atone for our sins, because we are utterly helpless to do so!”

A heart that has experienced the New Birth, that has been regenerated by the working of the Holy Spirit in salvation, is a heart that rejoices over the fact that God has staked the glory of His Name on His power to save us!

If you have a heart that has been transformed by the regenerating power of God in salvation, you understand that you were completely powerless to save yourself, and utterly undeserving of God’s grace.

…or do you do think you DESERVE it?

Are you more apt to excuse your sin than confess it? Do you come to God with your “mistakes” and “bad choices” and “failures” and ask Him to make you feel better about yourself, that you really didn’t mean to make such bad choices, but it wasn’t really your fault and you deserve a second chance...

A heart that has been transformed by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit in salvation is a heart that delights in the glory of God’s Name above everything else—the chief treasure of the regenerated heart is the glory of Gods Name, and it rejoices in its helplessness and unworthiness because that is what magnifies the Name of God to save!

Romans 5:7–8 (ESV)

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Psalm 79 is the cry of a faithful heart that has had its entire world fall apart—this is the song of a heart that delights in the glory of God’s Name. And as we come to the end of the psalm, we see in verses 11-13 another way that God’s Name is uppermost in the affections of a faithful heart:

IV. Do you see His JUSTICE as the VINDICATION of His Name? (vv. 11-13)

Psalm 79:11–12 (ESV)

11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die! 12 Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!

The great desire of the psalmist was to see God’s Name vindicated— “Lord, when they are making us into a taunt, they are really taunting YOU!” “When they assault us, when they take us prisoner, when they cause us to groan under the oppression of their hatred, they are casting Your Name into the dirt; they are attacking Your glory!”

The heart that has been born again wants to see God’s Name vindicated—do you look forward to the Day when God will judge His enemies,

…or is it your chance for VENGEANCE?

How easy it is to slip into thinking about the Day of Judgment that God has promised in terms of how you will finally be vindicted before your enemies! And while it is true that part of what Christ promises to do when He returns is vindicate His people—the martyred saints in Revelation 6 cry out to Him to do just that when the fifth seal is broken:

Revelation 6:10 (ESV)

10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

But as great a joy as it will be on that Day to have all of the injustices and persecutions you have suffered on this earth be vindicated—if that is all that you are waiting for, you do not have the heart of a Christian. Because the difference between a regenerate heart and an unregenerate heart is the desire for God’s Name to be vindicated even if yours never is!

The greatest treasure of the heart of a Christian is the Name and renown of God. But for so many nominal Christians, the glory of God doesn’t even enter into their thoughts. There is a way of understanding what a Christian is that is nothing more than having all the same desires you had as an unregenerate person—only now you get those desires from Jesus instead. But there is no fundamental change at the root of your being; you still want the same things that you did before you were “saved”—in one preacher’s words,

You just shop at a new store. The dinner is still the same; you just have a new butler. The bags in the hotel room are still the same; you just have a new bellhop...That’s not what the new birth is. It’s not having all the same desires that you had as an unregenerate person, and just getting them from a new source. The new birth changes the bottom, the root, the foundation of what makes us happy. Self at the bottom is replaced by Jesus. God himself...What makes the born-again person glad is not at bottom that they have God’s gifts, but that they have God.‌ (Retrieved from https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/how-much-does-god-love-this-church Retrieved 08/02/2023)

‌And so let this Psalm confront your heart this morning—this is a psalm written by a man who had lost everything—his home, his family, his nation, his place of worship—he was surrounded by dead bodies being picked apart by vultures, he was mocked and reviled by the nations surrounding him, his entire world was flat gone. But all he cared about was that God’s Name be magnified!

What does calamity reveal about you? What does loss or hardship or opposition reveal in your heart? If the absolute bottom fell out of EVERYTHING in this country tomorrow, would your greatest anxiety be over what you can no longer have, or over God’s glorious Name not being recognized? If the bottom falls out of your world--death, illness, loss of loved ones, poverty--would your greatest anxiety be over what you have lost, or would you be anxious for everyone who sees your troubles to know just how faithful God is to you? Is the greatest joy of your heart in your salvation the recognition of just how great God’s grace has been to you in the depths of your guilt and sin, or do you push back against the notion that you were totally and completely helpless to make the slightest motion towards your own salvation?

Do you have a heart that desires to see God’s Name glorified even if it means you will suffer? A heart that desires to see God’s fame increased even if it means no one will ever know your name? A heart that breaks when it sees unbelief and agnosticism and blasphemies against God—not because it means that you are being dishonored, but because you mourn over God’s Name being mocked and derided?

Is your greatest hope for your salvation the fact that God fundamentally loves you or that He fundamentally loves His glorious Name? Is your greatest hope for the day of judgment that you will be vindicated for your Christian beliefs, or that God’s Name will finally be universally honored?

The greatest treasure of the regenerate heart is the Name and renown of God—if this Psalm has caused you to look into your own heart and realize that your greatest hope and joy and affection is for yourself and not Him; if you realize that you want just exactly the same thing that all of your unconverted neighbors want, but the difference is you’re asking Jesus to give them to you instead of the world; if the reason you want to go to Heaven is because you want to see all your departed loved ones but don’t care one way or the other whether you see Jesus there—then let me warn you: you do not have the heart of a Christian.

Stop committing idolatry in your heart by loving those things more than God. Stop calling yourself a Christian if your love for Christ is less important to you than your love for your children or your career or your own comfort. Cry out in repentance to God for your idolatrous blasphemies of loving Him less than this world, lay all of it at His feet and plead with Him to give you a new heart that delights in Him beyond anything this world can offer you or anything this world can take away from you. Come away from the broken cisterns of your own pleasures and priorities and come to the fountain of living waters and the eternal joy that waits for you in the Name of your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)

20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

In times of calamity or hardship, what do you think your immediate instincts or reactions would reveal about your true affections?

How does the psalmist's response to the collapse of his entire world demonstrate that the glory of God's Name is the most precious treasure of his heart?

Read verse 9 of Psalm 79 again: What does this verse reveal about the way God glorifies Himself in your salvation? How does this verse give you assurance that God will keep His promise to atone for your sin?

When you are taunted or maligned for your faith in Christ, are you more affected by the way God’s Name is dishonored, or by your own embarrassment or discomfort? How does a recognition of your helplessness to save yourself enable you to cultivate a greater desire to see God’s Name vindicated, even if yours is not?