Webster defines a patriot as "one who loves and loyally or zealously supports one's own country."1 According to that definition, one thing I can say about the man who wrote this Psalm, Asaph, is he was a true patriot. He would never have burned his flag, and would not have put up with anyone who did.

Though he was a patriot and loved his country, he was also a man of God, and therefore burdened for his country. He was in a situation then much as we are in today. Among all the nations of the world, Israel was God's crown jewel. For hundreds of years she had enjoyed the unmatched favor of God; she had experienced undivided fellowship with God; she had been enriched with the unparalleled fortune of God.

But golden dreams had disintegrated into filthy ashes because Israel forgot God. When Is…