“Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name O Lord” (Psalm 83:16)

The 83rd Psalm is the last of Asaph’s compositions. All of Asaph’s compositions, with the exception of the 50th fall within this third book of the Psalter. (Psalms 73-89).

Asaph is a heartfelt writer who records his personal prayers to God in discouraging and trying days for Israel. We feel his pain and emotion.

In these discouraging days when God’s cause is undermined we can echo Asaph’s cry and make his prayer our own. I consider the 16th verse to be a window into the controlling desire of Asaph’s heart. Like Habakkuk and Paul, Asaph too saw grace abounding where sin abounds and he believed that in wrath God could and would remember mercy (Habakkuk 3:2, Romans 5:20).

While this is an imprecatory Psalm—one that calls upon God to judge His enemies—the prayer for judgment is accompanied by an earnest desire for mercy.

The Appeal

“Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.” (Psalm 83:1)

Asaph appealed to God in a dark day, when it seemed as though God was silent. He was not intervening as the people of God felt that He should.

The apparent silence of God is a difficulty we often face. CH Spurgeon in his “Treasury of David” quoted from Puritan author Walter Cradock and his book “Divine Days”. Mr Cradock explored three possible reasons for God’s silence:

• Christ slept in order to draw his disciples to cry with greater urgency. His silence becomes a test of faith.
• God is also silent to test our faithfulness. Will we hold true to Christ, even when He is not answering our prayers?
• God may also be silent so that the wicked are emboldened, gathered together into one bundle and made ripe for judgement.

Asaph, however, was quite determined – He must pray for God to act and intervene. We want to be faithful in adversity but we must also pray for God to raise up His standard in these dark days.

The Problem

“For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.” (Psalm 83:2-8)

God has been silent yet His enemies are making a tumult. They are not silent. In particular they take crafty counsel against God’s “hidden ones”. This is most descriptive of God’s people. As Christians we are hidden:

• In the shadow of God’s hand (Isaiah 49:2)
• In the secret place of the most high God (Psalm 91:1)
• In the secret place of God’s tabernacle (Psalm 27:5)
• We are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)

The world conspires against God’s hidden ones. Yet our hiddenness in God is itself our protection and confidence. Therefore although it may appear that He is silent, we can cry out knowing that He is constant in actively seeking our welfare. Even though the confederacy of evil may be widespread and our enemies seem numerous yet through Christ the Church will triumph.

The Argument from History

“Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.  Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.” (Psalm 83:9-15)

Asaph reflects upon the deliverance that God’s people realised in the days of Deborah and Gideon. In essence this is the argument to the God who refuses to change. As He delivered His people in the past so He will do again. As He confounded His enemies in the past He will do so again. The ultimate current of history moves towards the universal acknowledgement of God’s supremacy: ‘that men may know that thou… art the most high over all the earth.’ God is doing His work; therefore we pray with confidence.

The Argument from Mercy

“Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name O Lord” (Psalm 83:16)

James Montgomery Boice captures perfectly this feature of mercy and grace which ought to feature in all of our prayers. Do we pray for our enemies?

In other words, although desiring deliverance and judgment, the ultimate desire of the psalmist is that other people, even the Jews’ enemies, might come to know and obey the true God.

That is precisely why we do not rush to calls for judgment. Judgment will come. The God of all the universe will do right (see Gen. 18:25). But this is still a day of grace, when men and women may still repent of their sin and seek after God that they might find him and be rescued from the wrath to come.

James Montgomery Boice, Psalms: An Expositional Commentary, vol. 2, Psalms 42–106 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), p. 686

The Argument from God’s Honour

“Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:17-18)

The supreme argument in every prayer is the glory of God. Asaph invokes “Jehovah”, the holiest of all the divine names. Prayer that sincerely seeks God’s glory and the honour of His name rests upon the surest possible ground, for God will never cease to glorify His own name. This God will never fail to do. Such prayers are without self interest and selfish desire. They promote God and the furtherance of His Kingdom.