Psalms 44
Psalms 44:1-26 (NLT)
1 For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. O God, we have heard it with our own ears—our ancestors have told us of all you did in their day, in days long ago:
2 You drove out the pagan nations by your power and gave all the land to our ancestors. You crushed their enemies and set our ancestors free.
3 They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God. You command victories for Israel.
5 Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes.
6 I do not trust in my bow; I do not count on my sword to save me.
7 You are the one who gives us victory over our enemies; you disgrace those who hate us.
8 O God, we give glory to you all day long and constantly praise your name. Interlude
9 But now you have tossed us aside in dishonor. You no longer lead our armies to battle.
10 You make us retreat from our enemies and allow those who hate us to plunder our land.
11 You have butchered us like sheep and scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your precious people for a pittance, making nothing on the sale.
13 You let our neighbors mock us. We are an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
14 You have made us the butt of their jokes; they shake their heads at us in scorn.
15 We can’t escape the constant humiliation; shame is written across our faces.
16 All we hear are the taunts of our mockers. All we see are our vengeful enemies.
17 All this has happened though we have not forgotten you. We have not violated your covenant.
18 Our hearts have not deserted you. We have not strayed from your path.
19 Yet you have crushed us in the jackal’s desert home. You have covered us with darkness and death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread our hands in prayer to foreign gods,
21 God would surely have known it, for he knows the secrets of every heart.
22 But for your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.
23 Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Get up! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way? Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression?
25 We collapse in the dust, lying face down in the dirt.
26 Rise up! Help us! Ransom us because of your unfailing love.
There is a danger in attributing everything to the hand of God. How great it is to give Him the glory for the triumphs and victories of life, knowing that they were gained because of God’s plan and purpose. However, there are also seasons of circumstances that are the antithesis of blessing that come to challenge our place of victory in Him. With the assumption that they, too, are His hand, there is potential for great undermining of faith and confidence in Him. Oftentimes there are reasons unseen or understood that have influenced the onset of difficulties, things for which there is still a triumph in Him and of which He is not the instigator. This is something Jesus would later predict for us, that in the world we would have tribulation. The difference that we can come to know, though, is that there is yet great cheer for us if we are in Christ. We can then join Paul in claiming that in all those things we are more than overcomers through Christ. We have been taken to a place of spiritual victory that rises above the natural, visible circumstances of the world around us. Like Him, our greatest triumph can come right in the middle of the enemy’s greatest scheme against us. How important it is, though, to not ascribe the working of the enemy as the working of God as a curse against us. In this regard, emulation of this passage may have the dangerous effect of getting us in opposition against or offense towards God, while separating us from the answer of joy that never departs from us in His presence. What David does remain faithful to in this, something to be emulated and experienced, though, is returning to God in prayer for the answer. He never gives up on His Source of Salvation. He continues to call on the Lord and His unfailing love.