October 5
________________________________________PETITION FOR GOD’S DELIVERANCE
Yet God is my king from of old,
Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You broke open springs and torrents;
You dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have established all the boundaries of the earth;
You have made summer and winter.- Psalm 74:12-17
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Earlier in this psalm, Asaph was lamenting and grieving over the temple destruction. He kept on asking why God allowed such evil to happen to His own place of worship. In these following verses in 12-17, we hear a shift of Asaph’s emotions. From whining he moves to worshiping the Lord.
Verse 12 recalls God as King from ancient times who has done so many acts of deliverance for mankind. God created many things for us to have the life that He wanted us to have. In verse 13, Asaph mentions sea monsters and Leviathan. This creature is a multiheaded sea serpent that is killed by God and given as food to the Hebrews in the wilderness. In Isaiah 27:1, Leviathan is a serpent and a symbol of Israel’s enemies, who will be slain by God. Crushing the heads of Leviathan is representative of God’s crushing the enemy’s head. He delivers us from the evil one.
Asaph enumerates further in verses 15-17 what God has done for His people in the wilderness and how God has created boundaries between day and night and different seasons. Asaph reminds God of all the things that He has done for His people and praises Him for such deeds of deliverance.
We can learn from Asaph humility and a dependence on God. Another thing that was remarkable with him was how much he knows his good God.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it important for believers to run to God for defense and provision?