According to one tradition, this psalm records the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The psalmist was asking God to not forget His people and Mount Zion, where the temple once stood, to remember His covenant with Israel, and to save His nation. If this psalm is from the Babylonian captivity, then although many cried out to God to spare them, He did not deliver them for many years. He of course hadn’t forgotten them, but had prescribed 70 years of captivity to discipline them for ignoring His word.<\/p>\n
God doesn’t forget anything unless He chooses to forget. The one thing He does choose to forget is our sins, which are put away from us through confession and repentance. This is exactly what happens when we are forgiven by God. When God forgives us, He blots out our sins and forgets them, as it says in Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, \/ So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” The New Testament also states this: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 8:12).<\/p>\n
When the first missionaries came to Alberta, Canada, they were greatly opposed by a young Cree Indian chief named Maskepetoon. But he later responded to the gospel and accepted Jesus Christ. Shortly afterward, a member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father. Maskepetoon rode into the village where the murderer lived and demanded that he be brought before him. Confronting the guilty man, he said, “You have killed my father, so now you<\/em> must be my father. You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes.” In utter amazement and remorse, his enemy exclaimed, “My son, now you have killed me!” He meant, of course, that the hate in his own heart had been completely erased by the forgiveness and kindness of this chief.<\/p>\n “Father God, You have killed us by Your kindness and forgiveness through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to live well today for You and Your Kingdom.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psalms 74 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup> O God, why hast thou cast us <\/em>off for ever? why <\/em>doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2<\/sup> Remember thy congregation, which <\/em>thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which <\/em>thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3<\/sup> Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even <\/em>all that <\/em>the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4<\/sup> Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for <\/em>signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5<\/sup> A man <\/em>was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6<\/sup> But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7<\/sup> They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down<\/em>the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 8<\/sup> They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 9<\/sup> We see not our signs: there is <\/em>no more any prophet: neither is there <\/em>among us any that knoweth how long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10<\/sup> O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11<\/sup> Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it <\/em>out of thy bosom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12<\/sup> For God is <\/em>my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13<\/sup> Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 14<\/sup> Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and <\/em>gavest him to be <\/em>meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15<\/sup> Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 16<\/sup> The day is <\/em>thine, the night also is <\/em>thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 17<\/sup> Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 18<\/sup> Remember this, that <\/em>the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that <\/em>the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 19<\/sup> O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked:<\/em>forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 20<\/sup> Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 21<\/sup> O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 22<\/sup> Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 23<\/sup> Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to one tradition, this psalm records the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The psalmist was asking God to not forget His people and Mount Zion, where the temple once stood, to remember His covenant with Israel, and to save His nation. If this psalm is from the Babylonian captivity, then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8106"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16570,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8106\/revisions\/16570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}