For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 44

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.
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.

4 You are my King and my God,
    who decrees victories for Jacob.
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 for ever.

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.

13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbours,
    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.

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.

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?
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?
    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us for ever.
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.
26 Rise up and help us;
    rescue us because of your unfailing love.

A. Find Out:

1. What do they remember from the past? v.1-3
2. What does that lead them to be able to say? v.4-8
3. What do they say the Lord has done? v.9-14
4. What do they feel and what is happening to them? v.15,16
5. What seems to puzzle them? v.17-22
6. So what do they ask? v.23-26

B. Think:

1. How, here, does testimony produce trust?
2. Why is that trust particularly needed at that moment?
3. Read Rom 8:35 -37. What had Paul learnt?

C. Comment:

     This psalm by the Sons of Korah (priests) confronts a problem that most of us face at sometime or other: why am I suffering when I am seeking to be righteous?

     In verses 1-3 there is TESTIMONY. We know you did this…. That results, in verses 4-8, in a declaration of TRUST. You are the God who did great things in the past, and so we trust that you will do great things for us, now, here in the present.

     But then comes TROUBLED THINKING in verses 9-22. Things seem to be going wrong for us, so where are you, why are you letting this happen to us?

    This seems to be followed in verses 23-26 by a TERRIBLE TEMERITY! The writer dares to cajole the Lord. Wake up! Where are you? Rise up? How dare he be so “up front” with the Lord? The answer to that is that that is what he is feeling – and the Lord knows all that we think and feel – so he might as well say it out loud. What he’s really saying is, “Lord, we’re desperate! Please turn up!” Centuries later the apostle Paul was able to take some of these words and basically say, “Yes, troubles come, but nothing will separate us from God’s love, even these trials and tribulations.

D. Application:

1. Does your relationship with the Lord enable you to speak honestly?
2. God’s love IS there for you, in the midst of the tribulations!