“O God, Our Savior”

[Psalm 79]

I have meditated on Psalm 34, especially verse 8:
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
What is the goodness of God that those who take refuge in Him experience? In a word, it is salvation both spiritually and physically. Physically, it is deliverance [(v.4) “…He delivered me from all my fears,” (v.6) “…He saved me from all my troubles,” (v.7) “…He rescues them,” (v.17) “…He delivers them from all their troubles,” (v.18) “…He saves the brokenhearted,” (v.19) “…He delivers them from all their distress”]. Spiritually, the blessing God gives to those who take refuge in Him is redemption [(v.22) “The Lord redeems the life of his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.”].

In today’s Psalm 79, we see the psalmist fleeing to God and crying out to Him. Verse 9 especially touches my heart:
“O God, our Savior, help us for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.”
Today, focusing on this verse under the title “O God, Our Savior,” I want to meditate on three prayer petitions that the psalmist made to the God of salvation and receive the lessons and grace He gives.

First, the psalmist’s prayer is: ‘O God, our Savior, help us!’

Look at Psalm 79:9:
“O God, our Savior, help us for the glory of your name…”
Why did the psalmist plead for help from the God of salvation? Because Jerusalem was destroyed and in a miserable state due to the persecution from enemies against God’s people Israel. Verses 1 to 4 show this fact:
“O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the wild animals. They have poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and ridiculed by those around us.”
The enemies of Israel defiled the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and turned the city into ruins (v.1). They killed and buried the Lord’s servants and saints inside Jerusalem (v.2). Their blood was poured out around Jerusalem like water (v.3). Also, the people of Israel became an object of shame, mockery, and ridicule to their neighbors (v.4). In such times, the psalmist cried out for help to the God of salvation. However, he did not ask for help for his own honor, but for the glory of God’s name (v.9). This shows that, recognizing their own unrighteousness, they only desired God to save them for the holy honor of His name (as explained by Park Yoon-sun). The psalmist prayed earnestly for help, not for his own name or glory, but for God’s glory and the honor of His name. He prayed that only God’s will would be fulfilled.

When we feel helplessness in the midst of tribulation and persecution, we must cry out for God’s help. Although it may seem that many things depend on our own strength, we are truly weak people who cannot even properly govern our own hearts. In a way, the life of faith is one where the more we live it, the more deeply we realize our weakness and helplessness, while also acknowledging and confessing that without God’s help we cannot live. For example, consider Job. In the midst of his suffering, Job confessed, “Is my help not within me?” (Job 6:13). Job recognized his helplessness in the midst of extreme suffering and admitted that he could not help himself. Therefore, we must confess and pray as the psalmist did in Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” When we ask for help from God, who is a great help in the day of trouble, our God will become our great help.

Secondly, the prayer of the psalmist is, “O God of our salvation, deliver us!”

Look at Psalm 79:9: “O God of our salvation, help us for the glory of your name, and deliver us for your name’s sake…” The psalmist prayed for help for the helpless people of Israel who were in the midst of the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of the Lord’s saints, and tribulation, asking for help for the glory of God’s name. In verse 5 of the passage, the psalmist cries out to God: “How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?” Here the psalmist’s prayer, “How long?” is a type of prayer we have already reflected on in Psalm 13:
“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (vv. 1-2).
Such a prayer expresses the desire of believers to patiently endure tribulation and persecution while longing for God’s swift deliverance. In Psalm 79, the reason the psalmist could only plead for God’s quick deliverance is explained in verse 7: “They have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling.” In this desperate situation of destruction, the psalmist asked God to withdraw His anger from the people of Israel and pour it out on the nations that do not call on the name of the Lord (v. 6). Why did the psalmist pray this way? The answer is found in verse 10: “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Let the peoples know that you, whose name is the LORD, that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” The psalmist prayed for God’s wrath to come upon the nations who, not only defiled the temple in Jerusalem (v. 1), but also blasphemed God’s name by saying, “Where is their God?” A more specific reason is that the psalmist wanted the nations to know that God would avenge the blood of His servants. Indeed, in verse 12, we learn that the nations who persecuted Israel “have reproached” the Lord. The psalmist pleaded for God to pour out His anger on those nations who were killing the people of Israel and prayed that God would hear the cries of the captives and “preserve those appointed for death by his great power” (v. 11).

How amazing is this plea?
The psalmist not only asked God to deliver those whom He had destined for death by His great power, but also prayed for the preservation of the people of Israel. His concern for God's glory was greater than his concern for the salvation of God's people (Park Yun-seon). Although he prayed to God, "Save us" (v. 9), because he longed for God's salvation, he could not bear to see the unbelieving Gentiles mocking the suffering Israelites, saying, "Where is their God?" (v. 10). We must pray to God with this same attitude, saying, "Save us." In other words, we must present our prayer requests to God with a heart that earnestly desires His glory.

Thirdly, the psalmist’s prayer request is: “God of our salvation, forgive our sins!”

Let’s look again at Psalm 79:9:
"God of our salvation, help us for the glory of Your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake."
The psalmist knew that the calamity and disaster that had come upon Jerusalem and the people of Israel were the result of sin. Therefore, he prayed, "Forgive our sins" (the latter part of v. 9). He asked God to forgive their sins for His name’s sake. Then he made this plea to God:
"Do not remember the iniquities of our ancestors; let Your compassion come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need"(v. 8).
In Exodus 20:5, the Bible says, "I visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations." This means that when descendants continue to commit the same sins as their ancestors without repenting, they will experience God's judgment (Park Yun-seon). Therefore, the psalmist sought God's mercy. In his deeply humbling situation, he humbly asked for God's mercy. And within that mercy, he asked God to quickly receive him and the people of Israel. Ultimately, the help and deliverance (salvation) that the psalmist needed were connected to the issue of sin. In other words, what he desperately needed was the forgiveness of sins within God's mercy. He knew that all the calamities and disasters that had befallen Israel were a result of sin, and he recognized that unless the issue of sin was resolved before the Lord, any help and deliverance from tribulation and disaster would be meaningless.

The lesson this teaches us is that we must first resolve the issue of our sin before the Lord.
In other words, when we, like the psalmist or the people of Israel, feel the crisis of tribulation, pain, and the threat of death, we must, of course, ask God for His help and seek His salvation as the psalmist did. But even in the midst of that, we should not forget that if all of this is due to our own sin, we must pray to God, as the psalmist did, and say, “Forgive our (my) sins."

While presenting these three prayer requests to God, the psalmist also expresses what he would do if God answered the prayers of him and the people of Israel:
"Then we, Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give thanks to You forever; from generation to generation, we will recount Your praise" (v. 13).
The psalmist teaches that those who receive God's help, deliverance, and forgiveness should respond with thanksgiving and praise to God. I pray that these three prayer requests of the psalmist become our own prayer requests, so that, as we receive answers to our prayers, we may be raised up as worshipers who offer thanks and praise to God.

Rejoicing and thanking the God of my salvation,

Pastor James Kim
(With a heart of gratitude for the saving grace of God who helps me, delivers me, and forgives my sins.)