Background to Psalms 79

Comparing 78 and 79

The compilers of the Asaph Collection must have seen the irony of placing this psalm alongside the previous one. In 78, David has come to the throne, and his rule as shepherd king promises an end to centuries of folly and evil. In 79, four more centuries have gone by, and the Davidic monarchy has itself come to an end, mired in the selfsame folly and evil it was supposed to remedy. At the close of 78 God's sanctuary has been 'established forever' on Mount Zion; at the start of 79 the holy temple is defiled and the holy city is in ruins.

Comparing 79 and 74

Among the Asaph psalms 79 is a close companion to 74. What both lament is the fall of Jerusalem in 587BC, an event which seems both real and recent to the psalmist. He may have been a survivor of the disaster; but even if he is writing a considerable time after it, the psalmist has the vividness, the sense of horror and outrage, of an eyewitness account.

--taken from The Message of Psalms, The Bible Speaks Today, Michael Wilcock, p30.

Anger: When Your Back Is Against the Wall
Learn to keep anger from being destructive.
Anger is a natural, God-given emotion, which, though potentially harmful, can be used constructively. The Psalms give us examples of godly ways to express anger to God. Building habits that bring our emotions, including negative ones to God. James K.A. Smith, talks about habits in the video below, for a longer version, click here.

If your group would like to lament together to God, 

Most of the lament psalms follow a general pattern found in this psalm.

1. Cry: they begin with a short cry for God to hear us.
2. Lament: they have an extended period of lament.  We will not move to hope too quickly today.
3. Plead: they plead with God for deliverance.  We will spend time asking God to come and bring relief, encouragement, healing, and comfort.
4. Praise: they often, though not always, end with a short note of praise.  We will do this as well but we will not do it until the very end.  Even then we want to end this service with a bit of disorientation.  For although we walk out with hope, we do not necessarily walk out feeling fully oriented.  For a detailed programme suggestion, click here.

So let us to join together as we cry, lament, plead, and praise to God. We have a way of expressing grief to God that is unique and not available to others.