Pure Destruction

O God, why have you rejected us so long? Why is your anger so intense against the sheep of your pasture? Remember that we are the people you chose long ago, the tribe you redeemed as your own special possession! And remember Jerusalem, your home here on earth. Walk through the awful ruins of the city; see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary. There your enemies shouted their victorious battle cries; there they set up their battle standards. They swung their axes like woodcutters in a forest. With axes and picks, they smashed the carved paneling. They burned your sanctuary to the ground. They defiled the place that bears your name. Then they thought, “Let's destroy everything!” So they burned down all the places where God was worshipped. Psalm 74:1-8 NLT

I suppose this is almost a first-person account of seeing the temple at Jerusalem being destroyed – probably at the time of the exile to Babylon. This was years after King David because it was Solomon who built the first wooden structure for God's temple. Picture walking through the destroyed homes and businesses in Jerusalem. Picture seeing the wooden carvings of the temple smashed through and everything sacred ruined almost beyond recognition.

This may be hard for you to imagine. But if you picture your church destroyed as if by a tornado or vandal (and this may have happened in real life). How would you feel? Would you feel abandoned by God as the psalmist does?

God, remember us even when everything around us seems to have been destroyed by the enemy. Don't let us lose the hope we have in you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Copyright 2012 Amelia G. Sims