Dealing with Disappointment

Psalm 44:1-26 English Standard Version

Psalm 44:title

1. To the choirmaster.

2. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

Psalm 44:1-3

1. (v.1) O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:

2. (v.2) you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;

3. (v.3) for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.

Psalm 44:4

1. You are my King, O God;

a. My (first person singular) versus we (first person plural) (v.1)

2. ordain salvation for Jacob!

Psalm 44:5

1. Through you we push down our foes;

2. through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.

Psalm 44:6

1. For not in my bow do Itrust,

2. nor can my sword save me.

Psalm 44:7-8

1. (v.7) But you have saved usfrom our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.

2. (v.8) In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever.

3. Selah

Psalm 44:9-14

1. (v.9) But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.

2. (v.10) You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.

3. (v.11) You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.

4. (v.12) You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.

5. (v.13) You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.

6. (v.14) You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

Psalm 44:15-16

1. (v.15) All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face

2. (v.16) at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

Psalm 44:17-22

1. (v.17) All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.

2. (v.18) Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;

3. (v.19) yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.

4. (v.20) If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

5. (v.21) would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

6. (v.22) Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

Psalm 44:23-26

1. (v.23) Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!

2. (v.24) Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

3. (v.25) For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.

4. (v.26) Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

How do we deal with disappointment?

Paul’s response to suffering and disappointment

1. Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

2. Romans 8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

a. Psalm 44:22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

i. Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

ii. Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

b. Psalm 44:26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

3. Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

4. Romans 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

5. Romans 8:39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.