Matthew Henry Commentary Psalms 79:1-5

"O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance; Thy holy temple have they defiled; They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be food unto the birds of the heavens, The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; And there was none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and derision to them that are round about us. How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?" — Psalms 79:1-5 (ASV)

God is complained to: where should children go but to a Father able and willing to help them? See what a change sin made in the holy city, when the heathen were allowed to pour in on them. God's own people defiled it by their sins; therefore, he allowed their enemies to defile it by their insolence.

They desired that God would be reconciled. Those who desire God's favour as better than life cannot help but dread his wrath as worse than death. In every affliction we should first implore the Lord to cleanse away the guilt of our sins; then he will visit us with his tender mercies.