An instructive psalm by Asaph. The history of the suffering church is always edifying. When we see how the faithful trusted and wrestled with their God in times of dire distress, we are thereby taught how to behave ourselves under similar circumstances. We learn, moreover, that when the fiery trial befalls us, no strange thing has happened unto us; we are following the footsteps of the host of God.
C. H. Spurgeon
Verse 1. “O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?” To cast us off at all were hard, but when thou dost for so long a time desert thy people, it is an evil beyond all endurance. It is our wisdom, when under chastisement, to enquire, “Show me wherefore thou contendest with me?” And if the affliction be a prolonged one, we should the more earnestly enquire the purpose of it. Sin is usually at the bottom of all the hidings of the Lord's face. Let us ask the Lord to reveal the special form of it to us, that we may repent of it, overcome it, and henceforth forsake it. When a church is in a forsaken condition it must not sit still in apathy, but turn to the hand which smiteth it, and humbly enquire the reason why.
C.H. Spurgeon
Verse 2. “Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance,which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.” A good plea to be remembered: - (1) Remember thy congregation; the psalmist does not say “mine”, but thine. (2) Which thou hast purchased of old; not a possession that has only begun to be, but one that has eternally been. (3) This mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt. God's eternal honours are at stake, and the psalmist pleads accordingly.
From Musculus
Verse 2. “... the rod of thine inheritance ...” The “inheritance-rod” is the staff with which the inheritance is measured; the land-surveyor's rod. So, when the church is called, “the rod of thine inheritance,” it points to the fact that God measures all things on this earth according to His purposes in His church through Jesus Christ His Son: “For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.”
1st Corinthians 3 verses 21ff
Verse 4. “Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.” So it was when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar cascaded into the Temple at Jerusalem, hoisting their banners in the midst of the sanctuary. And so it is even yet, when many people seem intent on unfurling “things foreign” in the house of the Lord. May every attempt to fly the flags of carnal power and might in our churches be met with a determination to only “lift high His royal banner,” and to cast down the ensigns of worldliness in whatever form they appear.
Verse 9. “We see not our signs ...” These signs, which he mourned that he did not see, were certain outward marks of God's special favour, certain testimonies of His presence, certain memorials that he was with them to bless them. And it is said that there were five things in Solomon's Temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, which were not in the second Temple, which was erected after the Babylonish captivity. Five memorials or tokens of God's special presence were there wanting. One was the Ark of the covenant; another, the fire from heaven upon the brazen alter; the third, the Shechinah, or cloud, that rested upon the Mercy Seat; the fourth, the Urim and Thummin which were in the breastplate of the High Priest; and the fifth, the spirit of Prophecy. For though there existed the prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, at the time of, and shortly after, the restoration to Judah, yet the spirit of prophecy ceased with Malachi, and did not reappear until John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. The lamentations of the church here, then, was that she saw not her signs. So now, the church of the living God, the regenerate family of Zion, have often reason to pour out the same melancholy complaint. Signs of God's favour, marks and testimonies of His work of grace upon their souls, are often so out of sight, so buried in obscurity, so enveloped in clouds of darkness, that the living family are compelled, from soul-feeling, to take up the language of lamentation here expressed, and say, “We see not our signs.”
J. C. Philpot
(to be continued)