Our imaginations are often so weak. They limit our creativity and our faith, even our ability to have fun and enjoy life. The type of reasoning we see in Psalm 74 and 75 is refreshing. These words refresh our tired imaginations.

Psalm 74

Three-quarters of the way through Psalm 74, the psalmist breaks out into a series of second person you-statements. He laments (v. 1), he asks for help (vv. 2–3), he reports the awful things the nations have done to God’s house and God’s people (vv.4–8), he laments again (vv. 9–11), and then he turns to remind God, himself, and his community that the person they are praying to is the Creator.

You stirred up the sea with your strength.

You smashed the heads of the sea monsters (תַנִּינִים) in the waters.

You struck the heads of Leviathan (לִוְיָתָן); you give food to desert creatures.

You split the headwaters and stream; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.

To you belong day; even night is yours.

You put in place lights in the sky and the sun.

You determined every boundary of land; summer and winter — you formed them. (Psalm 74:13–17)

All of these facts about God’s power over creation are intended to lift our drooping heads and help us expectantly ask God to remember (74:2, 18), to take notice of all the promises he has made (74:20), to not forget (74:19, 23), and ultimately to act (74:3, 19, 22).

If God can control the chaotic creatures of the sea and keep in place the lights of the night sky, then surely he can bring order to the chaos of our lives.

Psalm 75

Listen to the same sort of reasoning in Psalm 75:

I will set a date; I will judge rightly.

The land and all its inhabitants sway.

I fixed its [i.e., the land’s] pillars …

God judges. This is who brings low, and this is who lifts up. (Psalm 75:3–4, 8)

God sets right pillars and people; he fixes the positions of each. Things are out of sorts for the moment (“the land and all its inhabitants sway”), but a time of reckoning is on the calendar. He will make things right. Things are not too out of control. If God can put the land in its place and keep it from sinking into the deep waters from which it emerged, then fixing our chaotic lives is totally doable.

More than We Can Imagine

In these psalms, we can see beyond the veil of the mundane. Things are not what they should be, and we don’t have any way of knowing how long things will stay so wobbly and unsettled.

There is no one with us who knows how long. (Psalm 74:9)

These verses release a little of the pressure. They are fresh air. They help us see what is true — what can and will be. Why is it taking so long (Psalm 74:1)? We don’t have an answer to that question any more than the psalmist did. But as we meditate on these words we can escape for a moment to a time and place where God’s authority brought order to the most unimaginable aspects of creation.

I say “we can escape,” and I immediately hear scoffing. I don’t mean escape from reality. We don’t meditate on Scripture to escape from reality. The images of God and the world in these psalms are more real and permanent than our temporary struggle. The images in these psalms are reality. As we fill our minds with these thoughts, our souls are attuned to what is most real and lasting. It’s not about escape from reality, but escape to reality, away from the lies, the doubts, and the “momentary affliction” (2 Cor 4:17).

Ephesians says that God can do more than we can ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). How can we live like this is true? The cosmic reasoning we see in Psalm 74–74 is critical. For good reason, this collection of prayers began with a vision of flourishing marked by meditating on God’s instructions day and night (Psalm 1).