Does God abandon us?

Psalm 74:2 - "Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt."

This is a psalm of a heartfelt cry from a child of God in exile, of the distress of a people who had witnessed the destruction of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, gloriously constructed by Solomon, and now destroyed, felled like a common tree by the godless enemies of Israel. How could there be any hope, and confidence left for the Jews? Most were now in a far away captivity with only a prophetic promise of return, but not in their lifetime.

So it is no surprise that they feared God had forgotten them - "why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?" (v.1) The psalmist then pleads, "Remember your congregation..." - remember us! remember that we belong to you! He continues, "...which you have purchased of old." Is there any doubt that God has always been the Great Initiator in our salvation? We have not purchased ourselves, nor have we merited His purchase of us, for it was a transaction that occurred "of old," long ago in eternity past. Anything, anyone who is purchased is a passive, helpless member in the transaction.

Asaph, the psalmist, says this is the congregation "which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage." Some like to argue a salvation based on some sort of foreknowledge, with the implication being that God looks into the future and somehow sees some who merit salvation more than others. But why then would the congregation need to be redeemed? It is the slave which needs redemption, a purchasing out of bondage, particularly here the bondage of sin. It is this redemption that makes us God's tribe, His covenant people, adopted for eternity.

The final plea of this verse is that God would "Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt." Jerusalem, and especially the Temple, were special, not for their own sake, but because God chose to be particularly present there. We are reminded that God sought out Israel. He sought out Abraham in a foreign land and called him as His child. Ever since Adam brought sin into the garden of Eden, God has been seeking out sinners. Many in history and today object to the doctrine of predestination, imagining it to be some cold, calculated contrivance. But what is it other than a just but gracious Father seeking out those whom He would deliver from sin and darkness? He is the God of immanence, the God who wants to dwell with a redeemed congregation which He Himself has not only purchased, but also has become the purchase price in Jesus Christ, the seeking God incarnate.

God never forgets His children, though our sinful waywardness perhaps strains that fellowship at times. Our Father may then send chastisements into our lives to remind us of His love and break our love of sinning. Make no mistake though, if we find ourselves in the midst of such chastising, that our God will not cast aside His redeemed, those He purchased of old, for He is the One who has sought us, and we are the inheritors of eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Guarantee, forever.