Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 44

[00:00:00] Welcome to Lessons From the Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. On this

[00:00:14] podcast we will be going over the book of Psalms. Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank

[00:00:24] you for anyone listening to this Psalm today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone

[00:00:30] listening how much you truly love each and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

[00:00:38] This is Psalm 44 beginning in verse 1. We have heard with our ears, O Lord, our fathers have told

[00:00:48] us the deeds you did in their days, in days of old. You drove out the nations with your hand,

[00:00:57] but them you planted, you afflicted the peoples and cast them out for they did not gain possession

[00:01:05] of a land by their own sword nor did their own arm save them, but it was your right hand, your

[00:01:15] arm and the light of your countenance because you favored them. You are my king, O God.

[00:01:24] Command victories for God. Through you we will push down our enemies. Through your name we will

[00:01:33] trample those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow nor shall my sword save me,

[00:01:44] but you have saved us from our enemies and have put to shame those who hated us.

[00:01:52] In God we boast all day long and praise your name forever, say long, but you have cast us off

[00:02:03] and put us to shame and you do not go out with our armies. You make us turn back from the enemy

[00:02:12] and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You have given us like sheep intended for food

[00:02:21] and have scattered us among the nations. You sell your people for next to nothing and are not enriched

[00:02:31] by selling them. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those all around us.

[00:02:42] You make us a by word among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. My dishonor is

[00:02:52] continually before me and the shame of my face has covered me because of the voice of him who

[00:03:01] reproaches and reviles because of the enemy and the avenger. All this has come upon us,

[00:03:12] but we have not forgotten you nor have we dealt falsely with your covenant. Our heart has not

[00:03:21] turned back nor have our steps departed from your way, but you have severely broken us in the place

[00:03:31] of jackals and covered us with a shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God or

[00:03:40] stretched out our hands to a foreign God, would not God search this out? For he knows the secrets

[00:03:50] of the heart, yet for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

[00:03:59] Awake, why do you sleep, O Lord? Arise. Do not cast us off forever. Why do you hide your face and

[00:04:09] forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings

[00:04:18] to the ground. Arise for our health and redeem us for your mercy's sake.

[00:04:27] Friends, Psalm 44 is attributed to the sons of Chora. I'd like to begin by going over the first

[00:04:36] three verses again. We have heard with our ears, O Lord, our fathers have told us the deeds you did

[00:04:46] in their days, in days of old. You drove out the nations with your hand, but them you planted.

[00:04:56] You afflicted the peoples and cast them out for they did not gain possession of the land by their own

[00:05:04] sword, nor did their own arm save them, but it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your

[00:05:14] accountants, because you favored them. Now friends, these three verses are talking about God's

[00:05:23] miraculous deliverance from the Egyptians in the days of old and what happened with the Israelites

[00:05:33] were slaves for 400 years in the land of Egypt, and a man named Moses came along and God told

[00:05:44] Moses to deliver them and take those people out of the land of Egypt and to go to a land that he

[00:05:54] was going to show them. And when he gave them the land, there were people on the land and God

[00:06:02] provided for the people. First three is telling us that these Israelites did not gain the land by

[00:06:13] themselves, but it was by the favor of God that they had overcome the people in the land and

[00:06:23] that the land was now theirs. Let's go to verses 4-8. You are my king, O God, command victories for Jacob

[00:06:34] through you we will push down our enemies. Through your name we will trample those who rise up against

[00:06:43] us, for I will not trust in my bow nor shall my sword save me. But you have saved us from our enemies

[00:06:55] and have put to shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long and praise your name forever.

[00:07:06] Say long. Friends, these verses remind us of how we can approach God today. God is on your side and

[00:07:19] if you reach out to him he will answer your prayer and he will deliver you of things that you are

[00:07:30] going through today. Sometimes things in our life happen and it seems as we go to verses 9-22,

[00:07:44] it seems like things will come against us. Sometimes we cannot sense the presence of God in our

[00:07:52] lives and it seems like everything is going against us. But what I like at the end of this

[00:08:00] Psalm, let's finish beginning in verse 23. Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off

[00:08:13] forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is

[00:08:23] bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the ground, arise for our help and redeem us for your

[00:08:35] mercy's sake. And friends, today these verses apply to us. If we reach out to God he will hear us

[00:08:49] and he will deliver us from whatever it is that is coming against us. Sometimes we need to be patient,

[00:08:59] we need to persevere but if we truly seek out God and ask for his help he will be there for us.

[00:09:11] Friends, please join me again soon as we take a look at Psalm 45.