Turn with me, if you would please, to Psalm 79. You will find it printed in your bulletin if you'd like to use that. This is our text for this morning's message, Psalm 79. Our ongoing series in the Psalms of Asaph, dealing honestly with God. And we come to a place again where Asaph is faced with devastation and destruction that overwhelms his soul and he deals honestly with God and then gives us the words so that we can also deal honestly with God in times of hardship. This is the word of God. Psalm 79, a psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your temple. They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us. How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Do not remember against us our former iniquities. Let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for your name's sake. Why should the nations say, where is their God? Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes. Let the groans of the prisoners come before you. According to your great power, preserve those doomed to die. Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord. But we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. From generation to generation, we will recount your praise. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we are called by your name, gathered together as your inheritance, marked out as your own beloved people. And yet sometimes we don't understand why things happen the way they do. And so our hearts grieve, and we seek Your face. Father, as we look at Psalm 79 this morning, would You speak to us by Your Spirit, speaking through Your Word? Would You write this Word on our hearts with power and grace? Would You be glorified as Your people are built up in You? We pray this, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Well, unlike so many other parts of the world, unlike most of Europe and much of Asia and Africa, the truth is that America has been very graciously spared real devastation from wars. Most of us could not even imagine what all of Europe and Japan experienced during World War II or the atrocities that gripped Korea, China, and the Philippines when Japan invaded them The most devastating war that's been fought on American soil, of course, was the American Civil War, which did see over 650,000 men killed, and some great southern cities like Atlanta and Richmond were devastated and laid to the ground. But the largest cities in America, like New York and Philadelphia and Baltimore, were spared devastation, even in that worst of all wars on American soil. So when we think about real devastation, For most of us, our memories go back to a day almost 19 years ago, the most devastating attack on American soil since the Civil War that took place on September 11, 2001. All of us here who are old enough to remember that day will never forget where we were and what we saw. The Twin Towers burning in flames and then falling to the ground, the Pentagon in flames, the massive loss of life and utter destruction at Ground Zero that remained as an open wound in the heart of our largest city for years. We will never forget that day, and that's the closest memory that we can access that would allow us to relate to what Asaph is experiencing here in Psalm 79. Psalm 79 is almost certainly written by the last Asaph, the last in the line of Asaphs, probably the same Asaph who saw the death of King Josiah. which we looked at as probable background for Psalm 77. It was just 25 years after the death of King Josiah that Jerusalem was devastated and the temple was burned to the ground. King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came in in 586. They had already laid siege to the city and ransacked it and carried off some exiles, but now they completely destroyed the city and slaughtered just about everyone who remained. in the city itself. It was not only the devastation of their political capital, but the Temple of God, which was the meeting place of God and his people on earth, was devastated. It was raised to the ground and burned. And the devastation was so severe that there were not enough people left alive to bury the dead. And so there were stacks of dead bodies lying around the city, and they were being eaten by the birds of the air and by the beasts of the wilderness. It was absolutely unspeakable devastation. The prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations as his outpouring of grief at the devastation of the land and the city. This is how Lamentations opens. How lonely sits the city that was full of people. How like a widow has she become. She who was great among the nations. She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night with tears on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude. She dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place. Her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. For so many years, Judah had this strange relationship where they would go to war with their surrounding neighboring nations, and then at other times they would make alliances with these surrounding neighboring nations to protect them. And instead of looking to God and trusting in God, They would even adopt the false gods of these surrounding nations. And now that Babylon has come in and laid waste to Jerusalem and Judah, all these neighboring nations are mocking them, taunting them, plundering them. And so Asaph pours out his heart, Oh God, the nations, The Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They've given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us. Asaph's opening line says to God, the nations have come into your inheritance. And it's a reminder to us that the people of God are the inheritance of God. Now that may seem like a strange concept to us. We may be more familiar with the idea that we have an inheritance in God. Right? We have an inheritance kept in heaven for us. Lay up for yourself treasures in heaven and not treasures on earth. We have an inheritance. But Ephesians 1.18 and Psalm 79.1 and other verses tell us that we are God's inheritance. We are what God is looking to receive as his own for all of eternity. In other words, we are his and he is ours. And that means that when When the nations attack God's people, when God's church comes under attack, it is God's own inheritance, it is God's precious possession that is coming under attack. And so that's how Asaph pours out his heart. There's five things that move Asaph to lament in these opening four verses. First, that the nations have come into and spoiled God's inheritance. Second, that they have defiled God's holy temple, God's house, God's dwelling place, the footstool of God on earth where he meets with his people. Third, that they've laid God's holy city in ruins. This is the city that God gave to David some 400 plus years prior to this event. Fourth, that the people of God have been slain and their bodies have been left out unburied, exposed to the elements eaten by birds and beasts. And fifth, that the people of God are being openly ridiculed and mocked by their surrounding neighbors. I want to make a quick side note point of theology that we can get from one of these five points. Part of the shame that God's people were experiencing in this devastation was the fact that the bodies of the dead were unburied. And that is a reminder to us that biblically The body is important. We are made in the image of God, body and soul, that our bodies bear God's image and likeness because they are how we exercise dominion over creation and how we demonstrate God's character in the world. And that even when we are dead, our confession tells us that our souls are united with God, but our bodies, which are still united to Christ, are to be buried in the ground to await the day of resurrection. And I mention that because you probably are aware that we live in a time and a place and a culture where burying the dead is becoming a rarer thing. It's cheaper and more convenient to choose cremation And I don't believe that cremation is necessarily sinful, but it's always been the practice of God's people to show respect for the dead and to show hope of the resurrection by burying the dead. I've stood on the Mount of Olives In Jerusalem, looking out over the Kidron Valley, you've probably seen pictures of that view. And all along the slope of the Mount of Olives are the tombs of God's people that have been there for thousands of years. And they're there on the Mount of Olives because Zechariah the prophet says that when the Lord comes, he will stand on the Mount of Olives. And they believe those are the first people who are going to be resurrected. So they want to be first in line at the resurrection. So they're there on the Mount of Olives. That's the kind of testimony God's people have always had in the world. Whenever cultures have become impacted by the gospel, one of the things like archaeologists who dig around in northern Europe, for example, one of the ways they trace, when did this culture shift from being a pagan culture to being a Christian culture? Well, it's when they stopped burning their dead and they started burying their dead. because they showed respect for the body and a testimony of hope in the resurrection. I would just encourage us all to be willing to do the expensive thing. Again, not that cremation's a sin, but I believe it's more honoring to God to bury in hope of the resurrection. How have the nations, though, come into the church in our day and age? How can we pray to God, oh God, the nations have come into your inheritance? Well, there's a few different ways that we can look around the world and see this happening today. First is in places where God's people are under extreme and violent persecution. So if you go to places like North Korea or Somalia, it is nearly impossible to live as a Christian in those countries. If you are discovered, you will be killed or you will be sent off to a re-education camp where you will do hard labor and you will be brainwashed continually. That is severe persecution and we need to be praying for Christians in those parts of the world. There are other parts of the world like Nigeria and Colombia and Pakistan where God's people are facing violent persecution by violent factions, tribal warlords or drug gangs or Islamic militant groups that attack God's people. We need to be praying for the persecuted church, and part of how we can pray for the persecuted church is to say, oh God, the nations have come into your inheritance. In other words, the church is the inheritance of God, and when the church is being attacked violently, it is God's inheritance that's being attacked. If you don't get Voice of the Martyrs magazine at home, I would encourage you to get it. It's free. I think we have a couple of copies sitting on the back table with the bulletins. You can pick one up here and take it home. It's a great way, each month they focus on one part of the world, and you can pray specifically for that persecuted church group. But you know, we don't live in an area of persecution, do we? So does that mean the American church is safe from the nations having come in? No. Satan has more than one plan of attack for the church. And here in America, we can also pray, oh God, the nations have come into your inheritance. How so? It's more by false ideologies, by dishonoring God. It has been a while now since the attack on God's Word has been prominent in many parts of his church in the West, even where it's safe, but starting in the 1800s, people started saying, well, did God really say, does that sound familiar? Did God really say that the sun stood still for Joshua when he fought the battle at Ai? That's not really possible, is it? Did God really say that Jesus rose from the dead in a body that will never die? That just doesn't seem likely. That's not very scientific, is it? And so authority of God's word has been undermined in the West, and that's a way that Satan has come in through the philosophy of the nations, or sometimes it's through churches being very worldly. and the worship of God being transformed into something that is not particularly God-honoring. We could go back to the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s, and you could see that the evangelical church in America decided to embrace an approach to worship that was focused, I'll just put it bluntly, it was focused on the psychological manipulation of people rather than the praising of God's name. And so they said, what can we do to put pressure on people to make a decision for Christ? How can we structure the music and the worship service and the seating so that people feel the pressure to come to Christ? And a worship service that's supposed to be about glorifying God and joyfully proclaiming his word and his gospel became about psychological manipulation of people. And today, it's more about entertainment. It's more about how can we get more people to come to church by making it more entertaining, by making it more like a rock concert and a motivational speaker. When we see that, we shouldn't just say, well, that's not my cup of tea. We should say, Lord, this is not worship that honors you. The nations have come into your inheritance. Your church has been compromised by embracing lies from the world. And it should be devastating to us. When the church becomes a laughingstock to the world because it's obvious that we don't really value the gospel or the word of God as much as we value politics or power or entertainment or our own personal pleasure, those are all ways in which the nations come in to God's inheritance. And so we need to be praying for the church. But Asaph doesn't just lament. After he pours out his heart in lament in the first four verses, he then switches to what we call an imprecatory prayer against the invading nations. He cries out, how long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. We've noticed in other Psalms before that this cry of how long is a faithful response to suffering. Asaph doesn't say, why me, O Lord? He says how long? He knows that God has every right to be jealous for his people. Notice how God's anger toward his people is described as jealousy for his people. Last week when we looked at Psalm 78, we saw that this pattern of God dealing with his people, when God disciplines his people, even in anger, it is a loving anger that is described here as jealousy. God's heart is jealous for the hearts of his people. God wants our hearts. He doesn't just want an hour and 20 minutes of our time. He doesn't just want 10% of our income. He wants our hearts to be his. And so he burns with jealousy for his people. Asaph asks, how long? He knows that they are getting the justice that they deserve. The prophets have cried out to God's people for years and years, warning that devastation was coming if they would not repent. But Asaph wants to know that God's jealous anger will come with mercy and will be limited in length. And so he says, how long? And then he prays this imprecatory prayer. An imprecatory prayer is a prayer against evil in the world, against the wicked in the world. It's actually a prayer that calls down curses on people who are attacking God's people. Now, that may not be a regular part of your prayer life, and that's okay. It's not something that we should do lightly or flippantly or even regularly, necessarily. But if we remember, if we translate this More in the New Testament language and the nature of the kingdom of God in the New Testament is not a particular geopolitical nation, but it's a spiritual kingdom throughout the kingdoms of the world. And we're told in Ephesians 6 that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. We should pray imprecatory prayers, but the thrust of our imprecatory prayers should be against Satan and his kingdom of darkness and deception. We should be praying that Satan would be cast down for being able to deceive the church and being able to hold people captive in darkness and deception. And yet also we pray for a very real end to evil in the world. Earlier we prayed the Lord's Prayer together. We prayed, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Whenever you're praying for the advancing of God's kingdom, you're praying for the pushing back of the kingdom of darkness. And so in places like North Korea and Somalia and other places like that, we can pray, Lord, bring down these oppressive regimes that terrorize your people and that suppress your truth. And sometimes God answers those prayers. People prayed for the downfall of the Bashir regime in Sudan for years. Sudan was one of the worst countries in the world for oppressing and persecuting Christians. People prayed, and God answered those prayers. And Omar al-Bashir was removed from power, and remarkable things happened this past year in the Republic of Sudan. In the Islamic Republic of Sudan, they openly celebrated Christmas and Easter this past year for the first time in more than 25 years. And the gospel is going forward, and people are hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. So we can pray in that way. We can also pray for things like an end to abortion, because it is an evil attack on the defenseless image of God in the womb. And so we can pray in precatory prayers that God would tear down the abortion industry in America and bring it to an end around the world, that God might protect the lives of defenseless babies in the womb. We can pray for an end to racial division and distrust within our culture and within the body of Christ, especially as it's an evil division that mars the people of God and our witness to the world when we are divided against each other along racial lines. We can pray for the downfall of evil regimes, like I said, in North Korea and Somalia. We need to be careful when we're praying in Precatory Prayers, though, that we don't become petty or political. Too often we mistake our personal political preferences for the kingdom agenda of God. And so we need to be clear that we're following biblical priorities and praying for God's kingdom to come and God's will to be done and not just about petty political preferences. Yet Asaph doesn't just pray an imprecatory prayer. We've got a great model here in that he first has a pouring out of lament, and then imprecatory prayer, and then a prayer for mercy and deliverance, starting in verse 8. Do not remember against us our former iniquities. Let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us. O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name, deliver us and atone for our sins for your name's sake. Why should the nation say, where is their God? Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes. Asaph prays, do not remember against us our former iniquities. This is an important model of a prayer of repentance, a prayer of a plea for mercy. Notice the words, our former iniquities. Asaph himself has not necessarily been a wicked and rebellious idol worshipper, but he knows that he is part of a people of God who for generations have been guilty of sin against God. And so he says, do not remember against us our community, former iniquities. Some of these iniquities would have been from previous generations, even, of idol worship and of hard-hearted rebellion against the words of God's prophets. We find an expansion on this kind of prayer in Daniel chapter 9. So listen to Daniel pray in Daniel chapter 9. This is probably a prayer and it was prayed about 60 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. And this is what Daniel prays. O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from Your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame. To our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you, to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him. We find Jeremiah praying in a very similar way around the same time as Asaph in Jeremiah 14, 20. He says, we acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. And again, it's not that Asaph, yes, Asaph and Daniel and Jeremiah, they are sinful human beings, right? But they're not particularly stubbornly rebellious themselves, but they recognize that they're part of a people who have so often been, for generations, stubbornly rebellious against God's people. We are part of the people of God. We are part of the body of Christ. We are part of God's inheritance, and that people of God has been guilty of sin grievous sin for generations, and we need to pray and ask God's mercy." The Bible says that God cannot be mocked, that what we sow we will also reap. Sometimes something can be sown for generations, and then it will be reaped. So, for example, Solomon was the king who introduced idolatry into Jerusalem through his marriage of foreign women. and allowing them to bring their false idols into Jerusalem. And Solomon was told, the kingdom will be torn in half, not in your day, but in the days of your son. And Hezekiah was told later, the whole nation is going to be ransacked and sent into exile, but it won't happen in your day. It's going to happen in the days of your descendants. So we can sow iniquity for generations and then reap the consequences and we need to own it as being our iniquity and our consequences and confess it to God. So whether the sin has been a neglect of the right worship of God, political idolatry, divisiveness over personal petty issues, These have been patterns of sin that endure for generations and bring judgment, and we need to pray, oh Lord, remember not against us our former iniquities. Help us, oh God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for your name's sake. Notice Asaph has it right. Why should God be merciful to people who are sinful and stubborn and rebellious? because it glorifies his name. It shows him as being a God who is merciful. It shows him as being a God who loves and who perseveres in love with his people. It magnifies the glory of the name of God in the sight of the nations. And that's the motivation for prayer. This is how Jesus prays for the church. In John 17, we're given an inside glimpse into how Jesus prays for his church. In his last prayer before the cross, the high priestly prayer, Jesus says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's us. We are those who believe in Jesus through the word of the apostles. that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me, that the world may know, that the world may believe." This should be our motivation for our prayers on behalf of the church. That we want to see Christ glorified among the nations, that the world may know, that the world may believe. And to see that, the church has to be united by the Gospel, by our King, We have to set aside that which is petty and pray for that which honors God and exalts Christ. Our prayer shouldn't be that we might have it comfortable or safe, or that we might have it easier, that we might be respected, or that we might have more power in the world, but that God would be glorified through the unity and Christ-centeredness of His people. reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from John Piper, from his excellent book on missions, Let the Nations Be Glad. And he talks about prayer there. And he says, God has given us prayer to be used as a wartime walkie-talkie to call in reinforcements for the front lines. But too often, we use it like an intercom to order room service. We're worried about our creature comforts, and we're not focused on the frontline advance of God's kingdom in the world. So then as Asaph draws his prayer to a close in verses 11 to 13, he looks ahead to a time when God's devastated people will be able to praise him. He says, let the groans of the prisoners come before you. According to your great power, preserve those doomed to die. Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors, the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord. But we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. From generation to generation, we will recount your praise. The final verse of Psalm 79 just really hits me. because I think of the very small and very light things that I have had to go through in life compared to what Asaph has witnessed and how hard it is for me in the midst of those times to really rejoice and give thanks to God. And here's Asaph. Asaph is looking around at piles of dead bodies that are being eaten by birds and wild dogs He's looking at the city of God and the temple of God where he served faithfully as a worship leader for years and they're in ashes and rubble and burning smoke. and he still is able to look forward by faith to a time when God will restore his people, and he says by faith, we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. From generation to generation, we will recount your praise. And if I was there, I might be tempted to say, Asaph, what are you talking about? Open your eyes, man. Look around. How are we going to give thanks to God? How are we going to recount His praise? Everything's in a burnt pile of nothing. And he says, don't look around. Look up. And by faith, look ahead. This is by the hand of God. and God has not abandoned His people. And we will be reunited together again to give thanks and praise His name. No matter how dark the night might seem, no matter how long a year might feel, no matter how surreal the hardships of God's people may seem, God will be faithful to deliver and restore His people and we will give thanks and we can give thanks by faith even now for that coming day. Ultimately, What Asaph was looking forward to by faith wasn't even the time in 70 years when the temple would be rebuilt and the worship of God reestablished in Jerusalem. Ultimately, what Asaph is looking forward to is the same day that we are looking forward to, that coming day when all of the evil and all of the oppression And all of the mocking and taunting and attacking of God's people will be brought to a permanent and glorious end. And in that day, we, the people of God, the sheep of His pasture, will give thanks to Him forever, and we will sing His praises unending, forever in joy. And where we stand here, where we stand here 2,600 years after Asaph, we have all the more reason to trust and all the more reason to believe and to look forward by faith. Why do I say that? Because we have seen the fulfillment of God's purposes and plans, and we have seen the keeping of God's promises in a much more powerful and profound way than Asaph was ever able to see in his life. What is our hope of mercy? When Asaph cries out, do not remember against us our former iniquities. Let your compassion come speedily to us. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for the glory of your name's sake. What is our assurance? What is our confidence to be able to pray that knowing that God answers? It is the cross. It is the fact that Jesus has already atoned for all of our sins with His precious blood. It is the fact that He has taken away the guilt and the curse that was on us, and so we have already been forgiven. We have already received the mercy of God. Our former iniquities are not remembered against us. We have been delivered and our sin has been atoned for. And what is our hope that one day all things will be made new and all things will be restored and we will be with God in a glorious, perfect new heavens and a new earth forever? What is our hope there? It is in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Because when he rose again from the dead, it was as the first born from the dead, the first fruits of the resurrection. And so his resurrection guarantees our resurrection. So we live 2,000 years on this side of the cross and resurrection, which gives us greater hope and greater confidence that God will hear the prayers of his people. He has heard the prayers of his people. Jesus has cancelled the record of sin that stood against us. Jesus has swallowed up sin and death forever, and He holds the keys of death and Hades. And the same Lord Jesus, who died for us and rose again for us, has promised us that one day He will come. One day soon. He will come. And He will take us to be with Himself forever. And all things will be made new. And that day is coming. Do you believe it? Are you waiting for that day? Does your heart belong to Jesus so that you cannot wait to see Him face to face and that will be the fulfilling of all of your hopes when that day comes? Asaph had seen utter devastation. Hopefully none of us will ever witness what he had to witness. And yet he kept his faith in God, strong and centered in the face of that devastation. Because his faith was anchored in God. Look again at Psalm 79. I want you to see one thing as we close and prepare for the Lord's Table. And I want you to see how Asaph has so securely anchored his faith in who God is and what God has done for his people, and one of the ways we can see that is how by the way that Psalm 79 is absolutely dominated by the pronoun your. Not the pronoun our or my, although that comes up a couple times, but it's dominated by the pronoun your. Look at it. Oh God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. How long, O Lord, will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire, pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name? Verse 9, help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for your name's sake. Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes. Let the groans of the prisoners come before you according to your great power. Preserve those doomed to die. Return sevenfold. into the lap of our neighbors, the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord. Not they've taunted us, but they've taunted you, O Lord. But we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. From generation to generation, we will recount your praise. is relentless. God, we are your people. This is your temple. This is your city. These are your servants. This is an outpouring of your jealousy. And so we need your anger poured out on the nations, and we need your name to be glorified. How many times, when we are going through some kind of hardship, are we so pathetically self-centered, or is it just me? Right? Why do I have to be going through this? Why does nobody like me? What do people have against me? That is so weak. That is so futile. Right? Have you been there? Have you felt that? But Asaph says, look, this is your city, Lord. These are your people. This is your inheritance. We know this is the outpouring of your jealousy. And so, Father, we look to you. Pour out your anger on the nations and show us your mercy for the glory of your name. You, you, you, you, you. Is that the way we think? One of the pastors I listened to this week said he was listening to someone give their testimony of how they came to Christ. And they went on for five minutes and they never talked about the Lord. It was about, well, I grew up in this kind of household, and then I did this, and then after a long time, I felt that I should be back in church, and so I, and after about five minutes, he stopped and he said, can I just ask you one question? What does the Lord have to do with any of this? And she said, oh yeah, him too. Our souls are not going to be satisfied, or stable, or secure, anchored in ourselves. That's a pathetically weak grounding for our hope. We have a greater hope. This table reminds us of a greater hope. The death and resurrection of Christ and his coming return. The character of God, the glory of God, and the promises of God for the people of God. That is where we anchor our hope. Asaph anchored his hope there, and he was never shaken. What is your only comfort in life and in death? And I am not my own, but I belong body and soul to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Because I am His, and He is mine, I cannot be shaken or lost forever, and we can always trust in Him. Let's pray. Father, we are Your own, because you have set your love upon us and made us your own. It is your power that has saved us. It is your power that keeps us. It is your Son who is the anchor of our souls. It is your Spirit who is the guide of our lives. It is your presence that is our true and eternal home. So Father, as we prepare to come to the table, prepare our hearts to come to you in faith and feast again on all that you are and all that you have done for us. We pray this, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.