Have you ever heard of a “feller buncher”? It’s a funny word to be sure. It is a piece of heavy equipment used in logging and wildland firefighting operations and, as its name indicates, both cuts down (fells) trees and then groups (bunches) the resulting timber into a pile. They are massive and powerful tools that can take down a towering tree in a matter of seconds.
While not in the same class technologically, in biblical times the axe was also a very powerful tool, capable of significant damage. Like most tools, it was created with the honorable purpose of increasing productivity, but, like all tools, it can also be used for evil purposes.
It is with a depraved heart that we see an axe wielded in Psalm 74. Here, it is the hatred of YAHWEH by the Babylonians that is highlighted by the psalmist. Their evil hearts took to the work of destroying the house of the Lord.
Many years earlier God had given intricate instructions about how Solomon’s temple was to be built. Regarding its construction, 1 Kings 6:15–16 reads:
He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.
Psalm 74 refers to the destruction of these walls by the Babylonians in verses 4-6. “Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs. They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees. And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.”
You know that God is not defeated by evildoers that demolish His temple. Razing these places of worship did not cripple YAHWEH. On the contrary, the mercenaries revealed their own heart. They demonstrated their alliance with the Destroyer.
Enemies of God are not indifferent to His creation. We know from Romans chapter one that God’s attributes are made evident in creation. But they “did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him.” Instead they suppress the truth. When unbelievers are given power to exercise the desires of their heart, they not only suppress the truth, but they also take action to destroy the things that point to God. Like the Babylonians, they want to tear down physical manifestations that testify to the existence of the Creator.
If the Christian knows this to be true, then he should not be surprised when the world around him wants to undo God’s creative order. No Bible-affirming believer should be surprised when a disregard for God’s order is formalized by proudly posting flags or setting aside a month to celebrate it. Just as the Babylonians were given latitude by God to discharge the desires of their heart against the walls of the temple, so the unbelievers of our day have been allowed to satisfy their craving to oppose God by laying waste to His created order of man and woman.
Perhaps you have become discouraged when you see laws enacted that facilitate these forms of rebellion against God. Maybe you have been disheartened when it is celebrated in every form of art and media. It’s possible that you have been persecuted by co-workers, friends and even family for refusing to take part in swinging an axe at the wall of God’s temple.
Here is God’s word to you. Do not lose hope! While you may experience in many of the same feelings of disappointment that the Israelites did when the temple was destroyed, you have a perspective that they did not. You know that the True Temple did appear. You know that victory was won. You know that neither an axe nor even a feller buncher can pause God’s perfect plan by even one second. You need not be driven to despair when ungodly people revolt against God’s order and seek to destroy His temple. His decrees will not be thwarted and His return will not be delayed.
Pray that God helps you to have a godly perspective about ungodly behavior. Pray that He will keep you from losing hope and, instead, will motivate you to show love to a rebellious culture by living and speaking the hope and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.