But God has been my king from ancient times,
Psalm 74:12-17 NET
performing acts of deliverance on the earth.
You destroyed the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster in the water.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you fed him to the people who live along the coast.
You broke open the spring and the stream;
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.
You established the cycle of day and night;
you put the moon and sun in place.
You set up all the boundaries of the earth;
you created the cycle of summer and winter.
When Asaph wrote this psalm, God’s people were in great distress, oppressed by an enemy, and on the verge of destruction. The first part of the psalm is a lament that God was allowing all this to happen.
But then he shifted gears, remembering the past and all that God had done. He had always been the king of creation. And he had repeatedly performed acts of deliverance. Nothing was too difficult for him.
Much of this passage deals with creation. Leviathan is mentioned in Job but was also a mythical sea monster involved in some of the pagan creation myths of his day. God had power over and defeated those considered agents of chaos by other people.
He went on to recount some of God’s creative acts: the cycles of day and night, summer and winter, night and day; the boundaries of the sea and land; and the water cycle.
The Lord Will Deliver
Asaph then called on the Lord to remember his people and to deliver them from the trouble they were in. Remembering his covenant promises and defending his honor against those who held him in contempt.
Are you struggling in life? Are you overwhelmed by circumstances? Does it seem like the whole world is conspiring against you, and you have been abandoned by God? Then remember Asaph’s words here.
Tell God your troubles. Remember who he is and all he has done in the past. His work in creation. His activity over the history of the earth, his people, and in your own life. Trust that he can and will see you through what you are currently facing.
Trust God when your life is hard. Call out to him for deliverance. He will not abandon those who are his. He will be faithful to bring you through whatever storms in life you are experiencing. This life may continue to be hard. But trust that he will bring you through it to something incomparably greater than your present circumstances (Rom. 8:18).
