why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old;
the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed;
this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations;
even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations;
they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up
axes upon the thick trees.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof
at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary,
they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together:
they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs:
there is no more any prophet:
neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?
shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand?
pluck it out of thy bosom.
12 For God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength:
thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,
and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood:
thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine:
thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:
thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord,
and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked:
forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant:
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed:
let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause:
remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies:
the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
Comments by Joan Boney
Elijah became very discouraged, even to the point of wanting to die.
God sent HIS angel who fed Elijah at that point. And God gave Elijah an assignment to do. And God said to Elijah the following:
1 Kings 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
There may not be many of the people of God left but there is a remnant out there, even when we do not know them they are there.
Isaiah 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Paul says ...
I Cor. 15 ... 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
There are several examples in OT where God won the battle with "few" people rather than "many".
Jesus talked about "few" finding the way of life ...
Mt. 7 ... 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
There are some extremely strange doctrines in churches today and these doctrines cause congregations not to fear God. The doctrines today are approving people in their sins so the people will feel good about themselves and want to attend church.
To the woman taken in adultery, Jesus said: "Go ... and sin no more."
II Cor. 5 ... For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;