poor Perspective

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

    1O God, we have heard with our ears,
         Our fathers have told us
         The work that You did in their days,
         In the days of old.
    2You with Your own hand drove out the nations;
         Then You planted them;
         You afflicted the peoples,
         Then You spread them abroad.
    3For by their own sword they did not possess the land,
         And their own arm did not save them,
         But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,
         For You favored them.
    4You are my King, O God;
        Command victories for Jacob.
    5Through You we will push back our adversaries;
         Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
    6For I will not trust in my bow,
         Nor will my sword save me.
    7But You have saved us from our adversaries,
         And You have put to shame those who hate us.
    8In God we have boasted all day long,
         And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.
    9Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
         And do not go out with our armies.
    10You cause us to turn back from the adversary;
         And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
    11You give us as sheep to be eaten
         And have scattered us among the nations.
    12You sell Your people cheaply,
         And have not profited by their sale.
    13You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
         A scoffing and a derision to those around us.
    14You make us a byword among the nations,
         A laughingstock among the peoples.
    15All day long my dishonor is before me
         And my humiliation has overwhelmed me,
    16Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
         Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
    17All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,
         And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.
    18Our heart has not turned back,
         And our steps have not deviated from Your way,
    19Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals
         And covered us with the shadow of death.
    20If we had forgotten the name of our God
         Or extended our hands to a strange god,
    21Would not God find this out?
         For He knows the secrets of the heart.
    22But for Your sake we are killed all day long;
         We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
    23 Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?
         Awake, do not reject us forever.
    24Why do You hide Your face
         And forget our affliction and our oppression?
    25For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
         Our body cleaves to the earth.
    26Rise up, be our help,
         And redeem us for the sake of Your loving-kindness.

 - Psalm 44

Have you ever felt like the world was crashing down around you?  Are you a faithful believer who goes to church every time the doors are open, yet nothing in your life is going right?  Is God to blame?  The psalmist seemed to think so, but he is wrong.  He is not looking at his life God’s eyes.

The psalmist opens with praise for the Lord, recounting the days of old.  He remembers hearing about how God USED to bless the people of Israel; how he used to fight for and protect them.  While these things may have been true, he seems to be relying on the memories of others, about how good things used to be. Notice how he does not remember the wanderings in the wilderness, the oppression under pharaoh, or any of the other failures of Israel on the battlefield.  We too often remember the good-ol’ days by looking through rose colored glasses.  Rarely were things as rosy as we remember them

The psalmist is not completely off base though.  He does recognize that with God on their side, that Israel is capable of anything. He extols the virtues, the strengths and the sovereignty of God. When things get bad, do you turn to God? Do you recognize that he is the source of everything good, and that he is more than capable to provide what you need?

Well, he should have stopped there.  Instead, he begins to complain that God has unjustly left them to the whims of their enemies.  He accuses God of selling His people cheaply, of actively participating in their demise, and passively turning His face from them and allowing their enemies to go unchecked. God’s seeming abandonment of his people made it appear that he was asleep and unaware of their plight, prompting the psalmist to ask, “Why do you sleep, O Lord?” This question is followed by the plea, “Awake; do not cast [us] off forever.” Thus the psalmist pleaded for God not to continue acting as if he had forsaken his people, failing to take note of their sad plight. For God to “awake” would denote his effecting their deliverance.

The psalmist could not understand why God hid his face and took no note of their poverty or affliction and distress. It seemed to him that the Most High paid no attention to their distressing circumstances. In not responding with needed aid, he appeared to have forgotten the hardships the people were facing.  We cannot know what has happened that God has seemingly left His people.  However, there is no track record of God acting unjustly, so while it may be difficult to accept, the people were getting what they deserved.  We sometimes get angry with God because we cannot understand why bad things happen.  This is never justified.  We are limited in our perspective, and in our motives.  God is righteous, and just and holy.  He and He alone knows what we need and how best to deliver it for us.

On the basis of God’s compassionate care, abiding loyalty, or steadfast love, the psalmist prayed for help and deliverance. Even when things seem to be going poorly, or especially then, we need to turn to God for his grace and mercy; however, not because we deserve it, but because it glorifies Him.