Psalm 83

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This psalm of Asaph was probably written around 700 BC when all the nations identified in the psalm were preparing to invade the Northern Kingdom of Israel. During the next one hundred fifty years Israel was continually being invaded until the nation was totally destroyed by Babylon in 586 BC. In 1948, after the declaration of independence of the State of Israel, armies of five Arab countries, Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq, invaded Israel. Over the next twenty-five years Israel was attacked four times: 1948 War of Independence; 1956 Sinai War; 1967 Six Day War; 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The formula of the psalmist is quite simple. He first recognized Israel was facing a crisis. He identified the enemy. Remembering Israel’s identity as the people of God and that an attack on Israel was an attack against God, the psalmist calls on God to fight for Israel. The psalmist remembers past victories of God to bolster his faith, and then looks forward to the time when all nations “will learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth” (Psalm 83:18)

In our time, the forces of evil, the enemies of God have aligned against God’s people, the Church. Consider all of the ways our society is threatened with extinction: drug trafficking; pornography, human trafficking, greed, lust and gluttony, just to name a few. However, we do not need to cower in the corner in fear. We can follow the example of the psalmist and recognize our crisis, name our enemies and pray for God to “scatter them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind!” (v. 13)

We can also pray verse 18, using the words of Jesus:

“Our Father in heaven,

   hallowed be your name.

   Your kingdom come.

   Your will be done,

     on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:9-10

Sē’lah

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What word or phrase in today’s reading of the Psalms

 attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

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How does this passage touch your life today?

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Reading for July 24, 2012          Psalm 84