Psalms 74:11-23 – O God, How Long Shall The Adversary Reproach?”, Part 3

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Psalms 74:11-23 – “O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?”, Part 3

Psa 74:11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
Psa 74:12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Psa 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psa 74:14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Psa 74:15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
Psa 74:16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Psa 74:17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

This particular Psalm is centred around the question of “how long shall the adversary reproach?” The straight forward answer to this question is that the reproach will be ‘just long enough’ to accomplish what God has purposed for each one of us in our appointed time.

In this study we will look at how the adversary is used to reproach us for a specific period of time until we are delivered by our Father who has allowed these unprovoked attacks of the devil. God knows our breaking point, and is proving us through these reproaches that are needful and necessary to bring us to the point of becoming matured, settled, and established sons.

Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

We are predestined to fall before we stand by the grace and faith provided by God in order to have this written on our hearts that the new creation being formed within us is gift of God, his workmanship being created to His glory.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Resisting Satan stedfastly by the faith that is given to us (Eph_6:16-18) is part of the painful ‘reproach’ that we must go through together as the body of Christ pulling down those powers and principalities that Christ promised would be part of our calling. It is these afflictions that are being accomplished within Christ’s body today that are common to all of us and at the very heart of how we eventually gain dominion over sin, as we go from glory to glory, by our great Lord who is working all of this process according to the counsel of His own will “To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever”.

Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Mar 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This section of proverbs that we will look at correlates very well with the part of the psalm that we’re looking at tonight. We are reminded that we do “faint in the day of adversity” until we come see how little our strength is and how we naturally deny Christ progressively less and less, but enough so that we are brought to the inevitable conclusion that we do deny Christ until we don’t, and that God is showing us through this denial the hypocrisy within us how we need to be delivered from ourselves through Christ. This day of adversity is the ‘day of the Lord’ and mens hearts are going to fail them in the outward day when Christ returns just as our hearts failed us and fail us until they don’t, as we come to know our Lord, rather are known of Him. It is after this experience of evil that we “see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory,/u>”.

Mat 26:34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

Luk 21:26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Pro 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
Pro 24:11 If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
Pro 24:12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
Pro 24:13 My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
Pro 24:14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
Pro 24:15 Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place:
Pro 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Pro 24:17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:

Pro 24:18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
Pro 24:19 Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; Pro 24:20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.
Pro 24:21 My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:

Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Psa 74:11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.

Why have you withdrawn your hand is what we ask, and as Christ is so are we in this regard having to ask this hard question “Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom”.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Before we can rest on Christ’s bosom like John, who is a type of the elect, before we can carry our cross, before we can pick up our bed and walk (Joh_5:8), we need to come to rest in the Lord on the bed that he gives us the strength to pick up, and be healed to accept the altar which is the cross that we are called to carry.

Joh 13:23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Joh 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

When God withdraws his power from us and allows the hedge to be down so the adversary can attack us it is so that we can then be delivered by his “right hand” an action described as “pluck it out of thy bosom” which is very much connected to a place of rest that comes after we have gone through great tribulation (Luk 16:19-22). We are this “certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day” also described as thinking that he is self sufficient when in fact we are at this time wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked before God (Mat 19:21, Rev 3:17).

Psa 74:12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Psa 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psa 74:14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

God is in the midst of the earth, more than we could have ever imagined as it never entered into our hearts that He is sovereign and how all encompassing that sovereignty is.

Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Our Lord is the Ancient of Days who is was and will be working salvation in the earth until all of humanity will be saved. He is the one who is dividing light and darkness within our seas or our heavens by his great strength. It is in our heavens that “the heads of the dragons” “the heads of leviathan” is broken in pieces and becomes “meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness”.

Dan 7:22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Num 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

Gen 9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Psa 74:15 Thou didst cleaveH1234 the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
Psa 74:16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Psa 74:17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

These next three verse graphically show us how God is the one who is in the midst of our earthen temples, cleavingH1234 or rending or ripping “the fountain and the flood”, and drying up the “mighty rivers” which in this context makes us think of.

Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

God prepares our hearts to receive the light and the sun who is His son who God has prepared and whose sovereignty and absolute dominion over all of His creation is symbolized by saying”The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun”.

Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

It is in the midst of the earth (the church) that Christ is working, three symbolic days and nights in the grave as we discussed last week, and it is here in the earth that Christ sets “all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter”. To set the borders is comforting words to remind us that God does things decently and in order and in a way that the right results are brought forth even though we may like those borders to be higher or broader it is God who sets them and measures our purposes and experiences in this life to bring about the new creation being formed through the circumstances or borders that He alone sets.

Jer 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Mat 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no
sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Making the “summer and the winter” reminds us that there are predetermined seasons of productivity and times when there is rest, or nothing happening spiritually. We ought to be admonished in our hearts and cry out and pray that the Lord of the harvest will not let our flight be in the winter when nothing happens. Even though we must live these words of not being spiritually productive, the experience is given to us so that we can see the great contrast between these two seasons of summer and winter in our heavens, and give glory to God who gives us the increase in the summer when we can water and plant and do all these things to his glory.

Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
1Co 10:32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
1Co 10:33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Next week, God willing, we will look at the last part of our four-part study which will address the deliverance that God brings us from those who oppress us and the joyful and blessed occasion it is when we can finally rejoice in all those afflictions that each us must fill up in each of our own lives in order to be matured in this life to be God’s kings and priests, who will be fitly framed for His glorious purpose of saving all mankind.

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