April 25, 2018 (Wednesday)
Isaiah predicted a judgment which would destroy the power of Assyria over Israel. Psalm 75 may well be an example of a similar message. It is closely connected in thought and language, and may naturally be referred, if not to the same author, at least to the same period. They speak of a great act of judgment, by which God had condemned some boastful enemy; of a supernatural annihilation of the hostile forces which had threatened Zion. The destruction of Sennacherib’s army was just such an act of judgment and direct intervention on behalf of Zion. Sennacherib, like Pharaoh, had challenged Jehovah to a trial of strength; and through the Assyrian prophecies of Isaiah there runs the thought that it was a crisis comparable to the Exodus, and second only to the Exodus in importance. This Psalm and Psalm 76 are full of coincidences–indirect rather than direct–with Isaiah’s prophecies of that period, and they breathe an intensity of feeling which indicates that the poet himself had experienced that crisis of uttermost peril and marvellous deliverance. The addition in the Septuagint title of Psalms 76, ‘A song with reference to the Assyrians,’ shows that the Psalm was at an early date connected with the deliverance from Sennacherib.
New International Version (NIV)
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.”
A psalm of Asaph. A song.
INTRODUCTION: THANKSGIVING FOR GOD’S PRESENCE AND POWER (1)
1 We praise you, God,
we praise you, for your Name is near;
people tell of your wonderful deeds.
I. GOD SETS THE AGENDA FOR HIS WORK (2-3)
2 You say, “I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge with equity.
3 When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm.
II. MEN DO NOT SET GOD’S AGENDA (4-5)
4 To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.
5 Do not lift your horns against heaven;
do not speak so defiantly.'”
III. GOD ALONE IS IN CHARGE (6-8)
6 No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt themselves.
7 It is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another.
8 In the hand of the Lord is a cup
full of foaming wine mixed with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to its very dregs.
IV. I YIELD TO GOD AND HIS POWER (9-10)
9 As for me, I will declare this forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
10 who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”
Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
George C. Stebbins, 1907
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
(from Hymnary.org): Inspired by the potter imagery in Jeremiah 18:6 and Isaiah 64:8, Adelaide A. Pollard wrote this sung prayer for consecration to God’s will in our lives. Periodically distressed after being unable to raise money to go to Africa as a missionary in the late 1890s, Adelaide A. Pollard (b. Bloomfield, IA, 1862; d. New York, NY, 1934) attended a prayer meeting in 1902 and was inspired after hearing an older woman pray, “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord-just have your way with our lives.” Pollard went home and meditated on the potter’s story in Jeremiah 18 (the same image is also in Isa. 64:8) and wrote the consecration hymn “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.” Repeating the words “Have thine own way,” each stanza emphasizes the believer’s harmony with God’s will. This is a deeply personal prayer that culminates in a strong plea that others may see Christ in the believer through the power of the Holy Spirit (st. 4).