O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.…  They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? … Help us, O God our Saviour, for the glory of your name; deliver us and provide atonement for our sins for your name's sake. (Psalm 79:1, 3-5, 9)   The king of Babylon had conquered Judah and destroyed Jerusalem, tearing down God's holy temple and leaving in it nothing of value. Bodies of God's chosen people were strewn in the streets. Blood poured out like water. The city was utterly forsaken.   God had abandoned His people, making them a reproach to all the nations around them. Judah's idolatry and derision of God had become a putrid stench to God, rising up to greet Him. And so God had followed through on His promises of utter destruction, should the Israelites choose to walk away from Him and instead take up the despicable practices of the nations around them. God's jealousy for His people burned like a fire. Both the people and the land of God's inheritance had been invaded and trampled by the enemy.   But life had not always been that way. The prayers of His people had once been as a fragrant incense rising up to God (see Psalm 141:2). The people of His inheritance.   And now we are God's inheritance! Think about that for a moment. God owns everything in the universe. Everything in the billions of galaxies that He created. Yet He has chosen us as His inheritance. "The Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance." (Deut 32:9)   God is saddened because of our deliberate sins yet compassionate towards us when we sin unknowingly. The Psalmist cries out to God "How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?" It is a cry that we ourselves may have cried out in our hearts or shouted from the rooftops during our times of deepest trial or hardship. But we can be assured that "His anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime." (Psalm 30:5) Although we may feel like God is showering us with trials or hardships, isolation, heartache, physical or emotional pain, we can know that his favour and blessing are ultimately ours.   Not every hardship in our lives comes from the hand of God, as is the fate of the Israelites which this Psalm laments. But as God's inheritance, He loves us greatly. "He has redeemed [our] soul from going to the pit, and [our] life shall see the light." (Job 33:28) We can rest on the assurance that God has atoned for our every sin through Christ Jesus. In our sin and even in spite of our sin, He helps us, and He delivers us.   Help and deliverance might not always look like what we want or expect, but it will always come, in God's time and in His way. With our deliverance comes the glory of God's name. God will never forsake the glory of His name.   The Israelites were not forsaken forever. They returned once again to the land and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and laid the foundation of the temple of God. The treasures of the temple were restored. God does not forget His people. He will never forget His inheritance. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) Surely, God's love endures forever.  

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