We are accustomed to look toward the Advent season with expectation, joyful preparation, and bright colored wrapping hiding wondrous surprises. But in Psalm 79 our expectations are shattered and our joy turned to mourning. The reality described here is no wondrous surprise rather a horrific destruction of God’s sacred space. What is going on here?
Psalm 79 is a psalm of lament for the destruction of the Temple. This event threatened the very existence of the people of God and became their introduction to a phase of their life we know as the exile.
The event that threatened to undo the people of God is not something that we would expect to lead into the season of advent. We read words in our text of invasion, rubble, dead stacked as food for the birds and blood poured out like water. These pictures seem so contemporary to us.
My attention, this advent, seems drawn to these words of the Psalmist. These initial verses read like words out of our daily news cycle. The wanton destruction, the ways in which there seems to be no slacking in the appetite of death. I too want to ask the question: How long, Lord? And while our attention might just be distracted through the bright glare of current events due to the war in Ukraine, the war in Israel and Gaza, or an unexpected personal or family illness, we are called in this psalm to look toward a different light.
Notice the transition of this Psalm from an invasion, death, and contempt by neighbors of verses 1-4, to wondering “where is God in all of this destruction” of verse 5 to a crucial concern for repentance and forgiveness of verse 8. We move to the great recognition that we are in desperate need; help us, God our savior!
Here, in the middle of the chaos and brokenness, is where we find the hope of Advent. In the midst of our destruction, God is our great savior. When all we can see is a vista of death, this psalm of lament looks beyond the rubble for a glimpse of the coming redeemer.
Advent doesn’t ask us to pretend the death and destruction isn’t there but asks us to look to the One who brings deliverance and forgiveness. Emmanuel enters into our chaos, lifts us out of the rubble, and enables us to praise Him forever.
David Brown
David Brown has been a part of the Trinity Church of the Nazarene family since 2016. David and Wanda have two adult children, Daniel who lives in Colorado and Marissa who lives in Virginia, along with her husband Chris and their daughter Zara. David served as a pastor in New Mexico before joining the Army as a chaplain in 1988. He retired from the Army after 27 years of service. He enjoys reading, fly fishing, Jeeping, and learning to be grandpa.
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