Praying with God’s Glory in Mind!

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

INTRODUCTION

This is the last of the psalms identified with Asaph (50, 73–83). It describes a coalition of ten Gentile nations that attempted to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Some connect this psalm with Jehoshaphat’s great victory over a smaller coalition (2 Chron. 20), although it’s possible that the historian did not list all the nations involved. Second Chronicles 20:11 parallels 83:12, and 20:29 parallels 83:16 and 18, but these similarities are not proof that the psalmist wrote about the same event.

Israel has been the object of hatred and opposition since their years in Egypt, but God has kept His promises and preserved them (Gen. 12:1–3). Pharaoh, Haman (The book of Esther), Hitler, and every other would-be destroyer of the Jews has ultimately been humiliated and defeated.

This reminds us that America and the church of Jesus Christ is likewise hated and attacked by the world (John 15:18–19; 17:14), and like the Jews in Asaph’s day, our defense is in prayer and faith in God’s promises (Acts 4:23–31). Commenting on this psalm, Alexander Maclaren wrote, “The world is up in arms against God’s people, and what weapon has Israel? Nothing but prayer.” But is there any better weapon? As he saw the enemy armies surrounding Israel, Asaph lifted three heartfelt requests to the Lord:

“Lord, See What Is Happening!” (vv. 1–8)

1 O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! 2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. 3 They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. 4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” 5 For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant— 6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah

As we see so many times in the Psalms, the writer starts this poem like a desperate child who climbs up into his father’s lap and unloads his honest and sincere heart on him. He knows he’s talking to his good Father, whom he knows to be far from disinterested in or unfeeling about the suffering of his people. This is God he’s talking to. The first verse begins and ends with “God” in Hebrew, which makes clear that the psalmist’s hope is in the one who cares deeply for his children and comes to their aid when they suffer. So he prays for this compassionate God—not to have concern but to show the concern he certainly already has in his people’s current crisis.

Two names of God open the psalm—Elohim and El, and two names close it—Jehovah and El Elyon (God Most High). The last name reminds us of Abraham’s victory over the kings and his meeting with Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18–20).

Asaph was troubled because the Lord had said nothing through His prophets and done nothing through His providential workings to stop the huge confederacy from advancing. Literally he prayed, “Let there be no rest to you” (see 28:1–2; 35:21–22; 39:12; 109:11; Isa. 62:6). These were God’s enemies, attacking God’s people, and threatening God’s “protected ones” (see 27:5 and 31:21), so it was time for God to take notice and act!

The invaders were many, they were united, and they proudly lifted their heads as they defied the Lord God of Israel (see 2:1–3). They had secretly plotted together but were now “roaring like the sea” (v. 2 “tumult”; see 46:3). Their purpose was to destroy God’s people and take possession of the land (v. 12). It appears that Moab and Ammon, the incestuous sons of Lot (Gen. 19), were the leaders of the coalition, encouraged by Assyria, which was not yet a world power (v. 8). Moab and Ammon would come from the east, along with the Ishmaelites, and Edom would come from the southeast along with their neighbor Gebal. Ishmael was the enemy and rival of Isaac (Gen. 21:1–21). The Hagerites lived northeast of Israel and the Amalekites lived southwest. The people of Philistia and Phoenicia (Tyre) were west of Israel. The enemy came against Israel from every direction and had the people surrounded!

“Lord, Do What You Have to Do!” (vv. 9–15)

9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, 10 who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, 12 who said,“Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.” 13 O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind. 14 As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, 15 so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane!

A second prayer in this passage is for God to act in the current situation the same way he’s acted in the past—to be faithful and true in the present to the way he’s demonstrated who he is and what he does in the past. He calls to mind how God has glorified himself through some of the great victories he’s brought about in Israel’s history.

Even if Jehoshaphat’s situation was not the same as that described by Asaph, his prayer would have fit the occasion: “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (2 Chron. 20:12, nkjv).

Asaph remembered some of Jehovah’s great victories in Israel’s past history, especially Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (vv. 9a, 11; Judg. 6–8) and the victory of Deborah and Barak against Sisera and Jabin (vv. 9b–10; Judg. 4–5). Endor is not mentioned in Judges 4–5, but it was a city near Taanach (Judg. 5:19), which was near Endor (Josh. 17:11).

The phrase “as dung for the ground” (v. 10, nasb) describes the unburied bodies of enemy soldiers rotting on the ground. The enemy was defeated and disgraced. Oreb and Zeeb were commanders (princes) of the Midianite army, and Zeba and Zalmunna were Midianite kings (Judg. 7:25–8:21). The victory of Gideon (“the day of Midian”) stood out in Jewish history as an example of God’s power (Isa. 9:4; 10:26; Hab. 3:7).

Asaph closed his prayer by asking God to send such a victory to Israel that the enemy soldiers would flee in panic and look like tumbleweeds and chaff blowing before the wind. Like a forest burning on the mountainside, their armies would be consumed.

The image of God’s judgment as a storm is found in 18:7–15, 50:3 and 68:4. If Asaph’s prayer seems vindictive, remember that he was asking God to protect His special people who had a special work to see on earth. (See 55 for more on the “imprecatory psalms.”)

“Glorify Your Name!” (vv. 16–18)

16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord. 17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace,

18 that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

The first two prayers in this psalm come down on the side of God’s eradicating his enemies and thereby ending their oppression of his people. But at the end of this psalm we see the tension similar to what Spurgeon addressed, and that frees us up to live and pray within it. Here we catch a glimpse of God’s showing compassion toward them for a larger purpose—that everyone on the planet would know and revere his glorious name.

The psalmist knows that the global acclaim of who God is and what he does will somehow come about through the mysterious tension between destroying his enemies altogether and turning their hearts toward him.

Before asking for their destruction, Asaph prayed that the enemy would be “ashamed and dismayed” and would turn to the true and living God. This is what happened in Jehoshaphat’s day: “And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel” (2 Chron. 20:29).

King Hezekiah prayed a similar prayer for the invading Assyrians (Isa. 37:14–20). The armies of the ten nations depended on many gods to give them success, but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob defeated the armies and their gods!

“Hallowed be Thy name” is the first request in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9) and must be the motive that governs all our praying. The Most High God is sovereign over all the earth!

The tension between awful judgment or merciful salvation actually shouldn’t baffle us as believers in Christ. Those two realities that appear to be in juxtaposition to each other actually are at the heart of the mystery of the gospel. They’re reconciled in the two-dollar theological word propitiation. In Greek one of the words translated by it came to denote the mercy seat, or covering, of the ark, which foreshadowed reconciliation by the blood of Christ. God “presented [Jesus] as an atoning sacrifice [propitiation] in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed” (Rom 3:25; cf. Exod 25:17-22; 30:6; Heb 9:5). A related Greek word also translated by “atoning sacrifice” similarly refers to Christ becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations, thus expiating and covering our guilt by the vicarious punishment he endured (1 John 2:2; 4:10).

On the cross Jesus incurred the wrath of a holy God in our stead. He died the death that we should have died. In so doing, he provided mercy and forgiveness for those who would believe. Both judgment and salvation happened at the same time. As Christ followers, that‘s the end to which we must pray for enemies of the gospel. Maintaining this tension between asking for judgment and for salvation, we pray through the lens of the gospel for every nation on the planet and every citizen of those nations to believe in Christ and bow to the “Most High over the whole earth” (v. 18).

Main Idea: Believers should pray for God to glorify himself by both defeating and saving those who oppose his people.

· The Lord alone is the Most High God!

· God and his people are indivisibly connected, so that what hurts God’s people also hurts God.

· The people of God are entrusted as keepers of God’s reputation.

· Shame is a constraint on sinful behavior