#DailyDevotion Jesus Is The Name Of God That Saves Us
Psalm 79 8Don’t hold our fathers’ sins against us. Hurry to come to us with Your mercy — we are helpless!”
God does not hold our parents sins against us. He also doesn’t hold our sins against our parents. This is evident from Ezekiel 18. Unfortunately, we do not escape the effects of temporal punishments of the people around us. So while the Jews were exiled to Babylon because of their sins, the few faithful ones were carried away with them, such as Daniel and his three friends, along with Ezekiel. When a father commits a crime and is imprisoned the innocent family suffers.
So it is good here for the psalmist to cry to God for help and for the LORD to show them mercy. It is always a good confession to say, “we are helpless.” We may not like admitting it but it is true in spiritual matters and often in mundane matters. We do have a promise from the LORD that if we humble ourselves before Him, He will lift us up. We should do this regularly.
9O God, our Savior, help us; because of Your glorious name rescue us; yes, forgive our sins for Your name’s sake.
He cries out to God. There is some debate as to whether the second phrase is “our Savior” or “of our salvation.” Either works well. It is Ysh’Nu. Nu can either be us or our. YSH’ is from whence we get Joshua and Jesus. Jesus is our Savior and He is our God. His name is exalted above all other names in heaven and on earth. So it is good to appeal to His name for rescue. Some may say the psalmist isn’t thinking about Jesus but this is Holy Spirit inspired writing. The Holy Spirit is certainly thinking about Jesus. We should appeal to God for Jesus’ sake in times of trouble.
We most certainly should appeal to God in the name of Jesus to have our sins atoned for so we may receive the forgiveness of sins. His death on the cross is our all encompassing atoning sacrifice. At His cross we are reconciled to God and made His friends (Rom. 5).
10Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” May Your vengeance for the shed blood of Your servants. become known among the nations while we watch. 11May the groaning of the prisoners come before You; with Your strong arm keep alive those doomed to die.
The Babylonians thought they defeated the Israelites by their might and the might of their gods. The LORD would through Daniel and his friends show them otherwise. But other nations may have wondered what happened to Israel’s God. Because the Babylonians and the Assyrians both went further than the LORD permitted them in disciplining His people, the LORD did eventually take both of them out before the nations. Here the psalmist prays the LORD to preserve His people who were faithful to Him while in exile. We should pray the LORD to preserve us while we live in exile in this fallen world.
12Pay back our neighbors seven times for the insults with which they defied You, Lord. 13Then we, Your people, the sheep that You shepherd, will thank You forever and tell from age to age the wonderful things You have done.
The neighbors to the Jews mocked them when the LORD disciplined them. Now he asks the LORD to defend His name. We indeed are insulted for the name of Christ and the LORD will avenge. Then we will praise Him forever and ever.
Heavenly Father, forgive our sins for the sake of Jesus’ name. Rescue us from this fallen world and preserve us in the faith until His revelation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.