Psalms 74:18 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist, speaking in the name of the church, urgently asks God to appear for his people against their enemies and bring their troubles to an end. To strengthen his own faith, he reminds God of the matter: “Arise, O God, plead your own cause” (Psalm 74:22). He is sure God will do this, because God is jealous for his own honor. Whatever belongs to God’s own cause, he will defend with strength. He will rise up against those who oppose it and with those who truly stand for it.

He may seem to ignore it for a time, but he will not forget. He will stir himself, show himself, and do his work at the right time. The cause of true religion is God’s own cause, and he will surely defend it. To show that this cause is God’s, the psalmist argues first that the persecutors are God’s sworn enemies.

“Lord, they have not only hurt us, they have also spoken against you. What they do against us for your sake also reflects on you. But they have gone further, they have directly insulted you and blasphemed your name” (Psalm 74:18). This was what they shouted in the sanctuary. They acted as if they had defeated the God of Israel, the one they had heard so much about. Nothing grieves God’s people more than hearing his name blasphemed. Nothing gives them more hope for God’s help than seeing enemies sink so low that they attack God himself.

That kind of wickedness fills up their sins quickly and speeds their ruin. The psalmist keeps stressing this: “We cannot answer their insults, Lord, you answer them. Remember that the foolish people have blasphemed your name” (Psalm 74:18), and that the foolish man keeps insulting you every day. Notice the character of those who insult God, they are foolish. Just as atheism is folly (Psalm 14:1), so are profanity and blasphemy. Some people may be praised as the clever ones of their time because they mock religion and holy things, but they are really the biggest fools, and one day everyone will see it.

Their malice is plain. They insult God every day, just as God’s faithful worshipers pray and praise him every day. Their boldness is also plain. They do not hide their blasphemous thoughts inside themselves. They announce them loudly, as the psalm says, “Do not forget the voice of your enemies” (Psalm 74:23). In doing this, they openly challenge God’s justice. They rise up against him, and by their blasphemies they even wage war against heaven and take up arms against the Almighty.

Their noise and uproar keep rising, like the cry of Sodom coming before God and calling for judgment (Genesis 18:21). Or, if read another way, they grow worse and worse, hardened in their sin by their success. So the psalmist says, “Lord, remember this; do not forget it.” God does not need us to remind him of what he must do, but we do speak this way to show our concern for his honor and our trust that he will defend it.

Second, the persecuted are God’s covenant people. Look at their distress. They have fallen into the hands of a crowd of wicked people (Psalm 74:19). Their enemies have multiplied greatly. No one can stand against an enraged mob, especially one armed with power. And they are not only many, they are also cruel. “The dark places of the earth are full of the homes of cruelty.” The land of the Chaldeans, where people had no light of the knowledge of the true God, was a dark place indeed. It may have been known for learning and arts, but its people were separated from the life of God because of their ignorance, and so they were cruel.

Where there is no true knowledge of God, there is little real humanity. They were especially cruel to God’s people. Those who devour others show that they have no understanding (Psalm 14:4). The people of God are oppressed because they are poor and cannot defend themselves. They are made poor by being oppressed.

The psalmist then shows why God should come to their rescue and not let them be trampled forever. “It is your turtle-dove that is about to be swallowed up by the crowd of the wicked” (Psalm 74:19). The church is like a dove because it is harmless, gentle, pure, fruitful, and peaceable. It is like a turtle-dove because of its faithfulness and steady love. Turtle-doves and pigeons were the only birds offered in sacrifice to God. So the psalmist is saying, “Shall your turtle-dove, loyal to you and devoted to your honor, be handed over, body and life, to the crowd of the wicked, who will quickly make it easy prey? Lord, it will honor you to help the weak, especially to help your own.”

It is also “the congregation of your poor.” They are no less God’s because they are poor, for God has chosen the poor of this world (James 2:5). In fact, their poverty gives them more reason to expect his help, because they belong together as his poor people. “Do not abandon them and forget them forever.”

They are also in covenant with God, so the psalmist asks, “Will you not respect the covenant?” (Psalm 74:20). Will God not keep the promises he made to them in that covenant? Will he not own those whom he has brought into its bond? When God delivers his people, he does it because he remembers his covenant (Leviticus 26:42). “Lord, though we are not worthy to be noticed, still respect the covenant.”

They trust in him and speak openly of their relationship to him and their hope in him. So the psalmist pleads, “Do not let them go away ashamed of their hope” (Psalm 74:21). They would be ashamed if they were left disappointed. Finally, he says that if God delivers them, they will praise his name and give him the glory for their rescue. “Appear, Lord, for those who will praise your name, and stand against those who blaspheme it.”