Psalms 74:12

Psalms 74:12 says, For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.  God is indeed the King of old, Who has brought salvation to the midst of the earth, and there is no other God or way to salvation.  Verse thirteen adds, Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.  Matthew Henry says this refers to God defeating the pharaoh and the Egyptians.  Verse fourteen continues, Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.  The dragons represented the Egyptians and the leviathan the pharaoh, and God had shown His total power over them in the past.  God was and is still the all powerful God, Who has defeated our enemies in the past and will do so in the present and future.  Verse fifteen states, Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.  Asaph said that God was in control of all His creation, able to cause the waters to flow or to dry up the rivers.  Though God does not cause all natural disasters, He has the power to.  Sin is the ultimate cause of the problems in the world, because when God created it, before men and women sinned, He pronounced it good.  Verse sixteen adds, The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.  Asaph continues to praise God as the Creator of the universe, and so should we today as followers of Christ.  Verse seventeen continues, Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.  As Asaph praises God, he says God set the borders, or size, of the earth and made the seasons.  Some people worship the seasons and the stars and moon today and refuse to acknowledge the Creator of the seasons, stars and moon.  As Christians, we cannot believe that anything other than God Himself is in control, today or anytime in the future.  Verse eighteen declares, Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.  Throughout history and until Chist returns, foolish people have and will deny the power of God, and attempt to reproach Him and those who put their faith in Him.  Verse nineteen adds, O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor forever.  Asaph asked God to not allow His people to be defeated forever into the hands of the wicked.  If may seem that the evil are winning in the world today, but God has already secured the victory for those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty says, Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.  Asaph asked God to have respect for His covenant, and He always has and always will.  We are the ones who break our covenant with God, if it is broken.  Verse twenty-one adds, O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.  If we are oppressed today as Christians, it is not God Who causes us to be ashamed of our faith, but it is us if we are.  Even if we are poor and oppressed, we must continue to live by faith and praise God.  Verse twenty two  continues, Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.  Asaph asked God to remember His own cause and how foolish people forgot Him everyday.  We do not have to ask God to remember His cause as Christians, even if foolish people continue to forget Him everyday.  God's existence and power are not determined by whether people believe in Him or not.  Verse twenty-three concludes, Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.  God knows the voice of His enemies, and will always be the One Who will one day judge them.  We as followers of Christ must simply remain faithful to Him, no matter how sinful the world may become.