Psalm 79

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

…8 Do not remember against us our former iniquities;[a]
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!…

The Psalms are cries of the human heart which God occupies and fills. The Psalms are human words breathed by the Holy Spirit from the hearts of people in times of joy, bewilderment, despair and reformation. They are cries to remember God’s blessing and to build. They are cries of anguish and horror at the evil that has befallen the people of God. They speak of repentance and renewal and a God who does not give up on a wayward people. Their truth is found in the event of the cross. Each prefigures the life and death of Christ, the cry…

Psalm 75

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

…6 For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
7 but it is God who executes judgement,
putting down one and lifting up another…

10 All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

When arrogance gains power whether in relationships, in the work place or in society, sin is soon revealed. The vulnerable are abused and the weak and needy forgotten. Our fruits reveal us.

Pride’s punishment is a shrivelled humanity which imprisons us – you do not become what we are called to be. We are to be more than our needs. Arrogance and pride bind us in a cage of our own self, limiting us to our immediate hungers. This is the punishment. Evil drinks it to the full- power is grasped and drinks evil…