Psalm 44

SLIDE 1 A couple of weeks ago I shared the story of a revival in the Scottish Hebrides. Here’s a story of one that took place in Texas. I don’t have the dates, but the events probably took place after WWII.

Dr. John Rice was asked to conduct a revival meeting at a church in Woodbine, Texas. Divisions and strife within the congregation were so bad the preacher resigned and left. When Dr. Rice arrived he found the whole congregation was divided. A couple of the deacons had had fist fights in the quarrel that had reached nearly every home. Many had taken a vow never to return to the little church.

Dr. Rice never did find out most of the details of the division. But with a burden in his soul, he preached against sin, urged God’s people to clean up their lives, and pleaded with them to make peace with their neighbors. Night after night he preached. Those who had been angry at others were now angry with him.

One morning, a woman in the community started to call Dr. Rice and tell him just what she thought of all his meddling in their affairs. But her nineteen year old son stopped her and said, “Mother, you are wrong! I have just been out in the woods to pray. I know Brother Rice is right. If we Christians do not get right with each other, we can never have a revival. I for one am going to try to get right.” His mother didn’t make the call.

That night, Dr. Rice called for a time of testimony. With tears streaming down her face, a woman rose to beg forgiveness of another woman with whom she had quarreled. The other woman swiftly rose and came to meet her. They put their arms around one another and wept in the aisle. Confessions came from all parts of the building. The deep moving of God was upon the people as they began to make restitution, ask forgiveness, and seek Christian fellowship again.

By the next afternoon news of what had happened spread like wildfire. That night the little church building was crowded. People came to church who had not been there in months, including some who had vowed they would never enter the building again. From the very beginning of the service the Holy Spirit was there. Dr. Rice preached the Gospel, and at the invitation men and women accepted Jesus as their Savior with tears streaming down their faces. Dozens of people were saved, hundreds of Christians were revived, and people came from miles to fill that little church for the rest of the meeting that lasted four weeks!

I’m encouraged when I read stories like that and I hope you are too. It’s great to hear how God has moved in the past. Souls are saved and lives are changed. When you hear about the situations in the Hebrides and at this church you realize something was needed. They needed a revival.

My question then is if God did this in the past, why isn’t he doing it now? We look at our situation. We hear about how many are leaving the church. We read about the increase in crime and drug use. If there was ever a time that needed revival isn’t it now? Don’t we need revival? So why isn’t God doing that now?

SLIDE 2 Turn with me to Psalm 44. This psalm asks a similar question. “Lord, we are thankful for what you did in the past, but why aren’t you doing anything now?” It seems they had suffered defeat at the hands of their enemies and they want to know what happened. Why did they lose? Where was God? Why didn’t he step in to help like he did for their forefathers? God acted in the past, why wasn’t he acting now?

This psalm has the exact same superscript as Psalm 42. It too is directed to the director of music. It too is attributed to the Sons of Korah who was a grandson of Kohath who was a son of Levi. And it too is referred to as a maskil or words of wisdom.

The psalmist begins by boasting in God and what God had done for his people in the past. He recognizes that it was God who helped them to achieve their success.

1 We have heard it with our ears, O God; our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. (Psalm 44:1)

It’s difficult to know exactly when this psalm was written. It was probably during the reign of David or shortly thereafter. The psalmist talks about the stories they’d been told about what God had done for their forefathers. Those stories would include how God had delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, how God led them through the desert and provided for them, and how God defeated their enemies for them. They heard stories about how God led them into the Promised Land and the many victories God gave them. He says:

2 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors; you crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish. 3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. (Psalm 44:2-3)

They understood that the victories they had were not because of their own strength or military might. Those victories were the result of God acting on their behalf. God told their ancestors through Joshua: SLIDE 3

11 Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. SLIDE 4 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you – also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. SLIDE 5 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. (Joshua 24:11-13)

SLIDE 6 It was obvious that these were caused by God and his intervention on their behalf. When Joshua and the Israelites defeated Jericho there was nothing they had done to make the walls fall down. God didn’t do this because the Israelites deserved it; God did these things because of his love for them. God had provided for them and the psalmist acknowledged it.

Do we recognize as quickly the things God has done for us? Or do we attribute our successes to our own strength, knowledge, and skill? Everything we have comes from God and we should acknowledge it. The psalmist does so he declares:

4 You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. (Psalm 44:4)

The psalmist declares that the Lord is his King and his God. A king is the person who rules over you. A god is one to whom you attribute all power and authority. The psalmist says all that belongs to the Lord. There is no other. Then, in the next few verses he gives examples of he trusts in God.

5 Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. 6 I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; 7 but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. 8 In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. (Psalm 44:5-8)

Israel fought, but it was God who gave the victory. It wasn’t their weapons that brought victory, but God. So he will boast only in God and worship him.

However, something has changed. That was then. What happened now? It didn’t seem like God was helping them anymore. The victories have stopped and now they are experiencing humiliating defeats. Had God tossed them aside?

9 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies. 10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. 11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale. (Psalm 44:9-12)

If God helped their forefathers why wasn’t he helping them? In the past, God would go out with the Israelites but he isn’t doing that anymore. Instead of chasing the enemy, the enemy is chasing them. Rather than destroying those who sought them harm, the Israelites are being butchered like sheep. They are running for their lives and scattering over the countryside. The psalmist feels like God doesn’t want them any longer so he sold them. But he insists that however much God was paid it wasn’t enough. They were worth more.

13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us. 15 I live in disgrace all day long, and my face is covered with shame 16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge. (Psalm 44:13-16)

At the end of a victory, the Israelites would sing praises to God. But it’s not the Israelites who are singing now. Their enemies were singing because of their victory over the Israelites. They were making fun of the Israelites and calling them names. “Where is your God? Maybe he forgot about you.”

We need to remember what God said he would do to his people if they ever turned their backs on him. If they stopped worshiping him and started following after idols, God said he would do what they were experiencing. He would give them into the hands of their enemies. Moses warned them: SLIDE 7

19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. SLIDE 8 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 8:19-20)

SLIDE 9 They knew this. God had already demonstrated it numerous times. Read the Book of Judges. The entire book is a continuous cycle. The people would turn from God, God would give them into the hands of their enemies, the people would cry out to God, and God would send a judge to deliver them. But it wouldn’t be long before the people would turn from God again. It was a vicious cycle that repeated itself again and again.

However, the psalmist insisted that such was not the case now.

17 All this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant. 18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. 19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals; you covered us over with deep darkness. (Psalm 44:17-19)

The psalmist declares that they had not turned their backs on God. They had not ignored his laws or broken their covenant with him. They had been faithful to God and what was the result? God allowed them to be crushed.

The psalmist says he could have understood it if they had been unfaithful.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? (Psalm 44:20-21)

God knows the hearts of his people. Isn’t that what God told Samuel? Samuel was at the home of Jess, looking for the next king. As Jesse brought his sons before Samuel, Samuel looked at the oldest son sure that he was the one God had chosen. He looked like a king. But what did God say? SLIDE 10

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

SLIDE 11 God doesn’t just see what we do; he knows why we do it. God knows our intentions. We may be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. The psalmist says that they had been doing the right things. They had been serving only God. God would know if they had forgotten him or turned their backs on him. God would know if they had spread their hands or worshiped an idol instead of him. God knows their hearts. However, even though they had been serving God they were still suffering.

22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. (Psalm 44:22)

The psalmist uses the same imagery as Isaiah when describing the Messiah. SLIDE 12

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

SLIDE 13 The psalmist just can’t understand why God is allowing this to happen. Why isn’t God defending them? Why isn’t God bringing them victories against their enemies as he once did? What is God waiting for?

23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. 24 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? 25 We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. (Psalm 44:23-25)

Even though he isn’t seeing God working for them, he hasn’t given up on God. He still trusts God to act on their behalf. The psalm ends with a passionate plea for God’s help appealing to God’s love for his people.

26 Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love. (Psalm 44:25-26)

This psalm is so unlike the psalms written by David that we’ve been reading. Like this psalm, David talks about the problems he faced and called out for God’s help. Unlike this psalm, David saw that deliverance and praised God for it even though it had yet to arrive. For example, there’s Psalm 7 where David needs God’s help. He starts out saying: SLIDE 14

1 Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, 2 or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me. (Psalm 7:1-2)

David then ends the psalm giving praise to God. SLIDE 15

I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. (Psalm 7:17)

Then there’s Psalm 10 where David asks: SLIDE 16

Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1)

That sounds a lot like Psalm 44. But David ends Psalm 10 declaring: SLIDE 17

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; SLIDE 18 you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. (Psalm 10:16-18)

SLIDE 19 That’s not the way Psalm 44 ends though. It doesn’t end with answers but with questions. And isn’t that the way life is most of the time? We have questions, lots of them. But we don’t like questions. We like answers. We want solutions.

Since streaming has become popular, I don’t watch much live TV. There’s not a single TV show that I’m watch. Instead, Mary Anne and I watch all the old TV shows. We’ve re-watched ones we saw while they were filming them and some we had never seen before. What’s aggravating though is to watch five seasons of a show that then ends without any resolution. The last episode of the season ended on a cliff hanger and it got canceled before they could make season six. So you’re just let wondering what happened. We want all the questions answered and all the problems solved. But that’s rarely how it works out in real life. We need to be careful of requiring God to answer all our questions. And we have to be especially careful about demanding God to explain himself when we don’t understand what’s going on.

That’s what got Job into trouble. When his three friends came to “comfort” him, they thought they knew the cause of Job’s suffering. Sin! So, they encouraged Job to repent. But the more they told him to repent the more determined he was that he was innocent. In the end, he began asking for an audience with God that he might defend himself. However, when God showed up he quickly changed his tune and wished he hadn’t said anything.

What’s puzzling about the Book of Job is God never gives Job an explanation for the cause of his trouble. We know only because God tells us in the opening chapters, but Job never does. God could have explained himself to Job but he never did. If that frustrates us, it only shows that we don’t understand the book. The book is not about giving answers. Like Psalm 44, it’s about learning to live with the questions and still trust God.

Like Job, the suffering describes in Psalm 44 was not the result of some sin or a sign that God no longer loved them. God was allowing them to go through those difficulties in order to carry out a plan known only to him. And that is the point. God is working in ways that are only known to him and he’s not telling us what those are.

In Romans 11, after talking about God’s future plans for the Jews, Paul cries out saying: SLIDE 20

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” SLIDE 21 35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” 36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-34)

Who are we to question the way God does things? We may ask questions, but we cannot demand answers. There is no one who has ever lived that is wise enough to give God advice. There’s no one who can explain why God does the things he does. No one is that smart.

So, what do we do when we can’t understand what’s going on? Solomon has an answer. SLIDE 23

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

SLIDE 24 It may have been tempting for the psalmist to turn his back on God. Where was he? Why didn’t he help them? But the psalmist didn’t do that. While he didn’t understand why they had lost, he didn’t give up his trust in God. After all, what else was there?

In John 6, when Jesus sees the crowds following him the day after he fed the five thousand, Jesus questions them. He tells them he knows that’s the only reason they are there. They want more food. Jesus proceeds to give some difficult teachings that caused many to turn away. SLIDE 25

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. SLIDE 26 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:66-69)

Peter understood that Jesus was their only hope. Job declared: SLIDE 27

Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. (Job 13:15a)

If could understand and explain everything God does and why he does it I would equal to if not greater than God. Don’t rest on what you think is going on. Don’t trust your own understanding. Trust God.