Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 44:1-2 and following. Indeed, while the psalms in Book one were almost all by David, those that concern us (Psalm 42 to 49) were composed by the sons of Core, those objects of grace who had been spared in the punishment of their father (Numbers 26:10-11). That is why it is remarkable to hear these men recall the wonders accomplished by God “in the days of old.” For better than anyone, they are able to appreciate and celebrate Divine Mercy. No, it was not the sword of the sons of Israel that was able to save them and give them possession of the land (just think of the passage of the Red Sea and the capture of Jericho). And the reminder of the great deliverances of the past is a lesson for these faithful. Like their fathers, they cannot trust in their own weapons to overcome (verse 6). “With you” and “by your name” (verse 6; Hosea 1:2-7), these are the believer’s only resources.
Another difference with Book one is the use here of the name of God (Elohim) whereas until Psalm 41 it was about Jehovah (Jehovah). This is the sad proof that now the faithful no longer have relations with the official cult that has become apostate. The covenant guaranteed by the name of Jehovah is broken (Exodus 6:2-9), but the believer still appeals to the supreme God. The tone of the psalm changes from verse 10: Instead of continuing to look to God, in the light of his face and the power of his Name (Ps 44:1-9), the faithful consider the trials that have reached them. The soul of the redeemed is not always in the elevated places, we all know this from experience.
However, the faith of these believers is not overturned; they know how to attribute to God everything that has happened to them and receive the blows as coming from His hand (Job 1:10-22). Their consciousness is straight; not only did their footsteps not deviate from the path of obedience, but their hearts did not retreat (verse 19). And God is a witness to this, He who knows the secrets of the heart. Let us never forget this verse 22. What is the strange phrase in verse 23: to be “put to death every day”? His quote in Romans 8:31-39 helps us understand it: It is to be reminded, by means of trials, of the feeling of our nothingness, of our total incapacity. But the same passage invites us to realize the triumphant counterpart as well: “on the contrary, in all these things we are more than conquerors by him who loved us” (Romans 8:31-39).
The complaint here becomes collective. The faithful are aware of their integrity through their great affliction; but they remember God’s goodness to their fathers, and this gives them confidence to cry out to Him. Here we have here in a striking way the prayer of a martyred people. If they suffer at the hands of men, it is for justice, not because of any iniquity or harm they have committed. This was the case with David pursued by Saul. So will israel’s pious remnant when it is oppressed by the impudent and incredulous power of the last days. And so it was, needless to say, for Jesus, the perfect witness of righteousness in the face of the works of the world (John 7:7). But so it should be with all of us, according to our measure: we should refuse to join the train of this present evil century, and take the place of separation that Jesus took.
There is progress in the experience that the soul of the faithful is making here. The two previous psalms (42:43) were rather the cry of a penitent, precisely far from the house of God, like David in the days of Absalom; but here it is the cry of the martyrs. This psalm shows strikingly that Scripture, whose primary or prophetic application concerns a particular people, can have a moral or general application; for verse 1 clearly shows that this psalm is the expression of the feelings of the Jewish residue, but Paul applies a passage of it to all the saints (Rom. 8:36, 22). And he makes it known that, as it is the blessed office of the Holy Spirit to keep the soul in the consciousness of God’s love (Rom. 5:5), nothing can be as strong against us as the Holy Spirit who sustains this love is for us (Rom. 8:39).
O God! we heard with our ears. God’s people here recount the goodness they once showed to their fathers, that by showing the great dissimilarity of their own condition, they can lead God to relieve their miseries. They begin by declaring that they are not talking about unknown or dubious things, but that they have recounted events whose truth has been authenticated by irreproachable witnesses. The expression, We have heard with our ears, should not be seen as a form of redundant discourse, but of great importance. It is designed to emphasize that God’s grace to their fathers was so renowned, that there could be no doubt in respecting it. They add that their knowledge of these things has been passed down from age to age by those who have witnessed them. This is not to say that their fathers, who had been raised out of Egypt, had, one thousand five hundred years later, declared to their posterity the benefits that God had bestowed upon them.
For the importance of language is that not only the first deliverance, but also that the various other works that God had done from time to time on behalf of his people, had descended, so to speak, from hand to hand, in an uninterrupted series, even in the last age. Since, therefore, those who, after the passage of several centuries, became witnesses and heralds of the grace that God had exercised towards this people, spoke on the relationship of the first generation, the faithful are right to say, as they do here, that their fathers told them what they certainly knew, because his knowledge had not been lost because of his antiquity, but was continually preserved by his memory of fathers to children. The sum of all this is that God had shown His goodness to Abraham’s children, not only for ten or twenty years, but that since He had received them on His behalf, He had never ceased to grant them continuous marks of His Grace.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
You rejected us:
- Wonders of God
Ex 15:11 Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? Who is like you magnificent in holiness, Worthy of praise, Performing wonders? Ps 77:15 You are the God who does wonders; You have manifested among the people your power. Jl 3:3 You are the God who does wonders; You have manifested among the people your power. Acts 6:8 Stephen, full of grace and power, performed wonders and great miracles among the people.
- False trust, vain trust in weapons
1 Sam 17:45 David said to the Philistine: You walk against me with the sword, spear, and javelin; and I walk against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have insulted. Ps 44:7 For it is not in my bow that I entrust myself, It is not my sword that will save me; Hos 1:7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah; I will save them by Jehovah, their God, and I will save them neither by bow, nor by sword, nor by battles, nor by horses, nor by horsemen. Hag 2:22 I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, I will overthrow the chariots and those who mount them; The horses and their riders will be slaughtered, one by the sword of the other.
- Dispersal of the Jews
Esther 3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus: There is in all the provinces of your kingdom a people scattered and apart among the peoples, having laws different from those of all peoples and not observing the laws of the king. It is not in the king’s interest to leave him to rest. Ps 44:12 You deliver us like sheep to devour, You scatter us among the nations. Ez 6:8 But I will leave some remnants of you, Who will escape the sword among the nations, When you are scattered in various countries. Jn 7:35 On what did the Jews say among themselves: Where will he go, let us not find him? Will he go among those who are scattered among the Greeks, and will he teach the Greeks?
- Face of God hidden, because of sin
Ps 44:25 Why are you hiding your face? Why do you forget our misery and oppression? Isaiah 1:15 When you stretch out your hands, I turn my eyes away from you; When you multiply the prayers, I do not listen: Your hands are full of blood. Isaiah 59:2 But it is your crimes that separate you from your God; It is your sins that hide his face from you and prevent him from listening to you. Ez 39:23 And the nations will know that it is because of his iniquities that the house of Israel has been brought into captivity, because of his infidelities towards me; So, I hid my face from them, and I delivered them into the hands of their enemies, that they might all perish by the sword.
From all the above, we note thatthere is a difference between the supplicant of the psalm and the apostle in the epistle: the psalmist finds a reason for trust through his afflictions in what the fathers told of God’s goodness in the days of old while the apostle is full of confidence because the Holy Spirit makes him able to consider God’s counsel, counsels of love and glory to him and to all those who love God – those who are called according to his purpose. Thus there is, one can notice, a difference in the feelings they experience: in the first, it is fear, born of the consciousness that God probes the heart; in the other it is love, born of the consciousness of His unalterable love. Ps. 44 thus presents us with a complete and vivid picture of the state of the nation, developed in the consciousness of the residue: They have heard from their ears; faith rests in the memory of all the ancient glorious deliverances of God, and it remembers how he put his people in possession of the country by his power, not by theirs (verses 1-8). Forverses 9-16 are the expression of their present condition: they are rejected and scattered; the enemy, the avenger is among them; they are scattered among the nations, sold by God for nothing. However, they did not turn away from their integrity (verses 17-22); on the contrary, it is for his sake that they are put to death all day and are considered killing sheep. Verses 23-26 contain their request to God to wake up, to deliver them because of his goodness (they are, in principle, in this position, from the moment the Messiah is rejected).” The name of jehovah is not mentioned in this Psalm, for the faithful are “outside,” far from Jerusalem; and it is about God. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “the faithful expect God for the judgment of the wicked.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.