Song of Deliverance

When do we find prayer most spontaneous? Probably when we face hard things and turn to God for help, or when there is light at the end of the tunnel and we worship God for rescuing us. This psalm is an end-of-the-tunnel response, like Moses’ song after the Exodus (Exod. 15). Together with Psalm 75, it emerges from a later period in the story of God’s people, the time of the Assyrian invasion around 700 BC (see 2 Kings 18,19). It’s not Pharaoh threatening Moses and his people but Sennacherib threatening Hezekiah and the people of Judah. In response to Hezekiah’s prayer of humble dependence (“You are God, You alone … save us … so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, O Lord, are God alone”), God once more dramatically turns the tide of history (2 Kings 19:35-37), and for a brief time God’s people are again at peace. Psalm 76 rises in worship out of this experience of rescue, detailing God’s work in bringing a ruthless army to its knees (3,5,6,12).

As in most of the Bible’s poetry, form reinforces theme and makes for one harmonious whole. At the very center of this poem, with 41 Hebrew words before and after them, are three words that can be translated “You, awesome You!” “Awesome” has become a devalued word these days. In truth it is a quality that sends us to our knees before the Lord (7), and calls for a response of the deepest commitment (11). Our experience of exodus, of being brought from darkness into light, of being nobodies who are now somebodies because of God’s saving action, is all “in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you” (1 Pet. 2:9 NRSV)—in both speech and countercultural living.

Think back to an experience when the Lord intervened to deliver you from a distressing situation. Give him thanks and praise.