Another psalm For the director of music and Of the Sons of Korah, Psalm 44 is also A maskil. It was written at a time when things were not going well for Israel, when (9) they felt rejected and humbled and God was no longer going out with their armies. The psalmist acknowledges help in the far (1-3) and the near (4-8) past but now, and for some time, it has not been like that at all. The obvious explanation would be that there was some sin in Israel but he protests (17-22) that Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path (18). And so the prayer is (23-26) Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? ... Do not reject us ... Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust ... Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love. That last line is one we could use in prayer today. One fears that a lot of our problems do stem from our having been false to the covenant in some way, our having strayed to some extent and we certainly must examine our hearts as he knows the secrets of the heart. But, having done that, it may be that there is no obvious explanation for our failures. In such a case we must pray - pray that the Lord will rise up and help us, that he will redeem us, as it were. Our best argument is because of your unfailing love. If his right hand brought victory for Joshua and he gave victories to David and others, even though things may seem to be against us at present, we can be sure that he will not reject his people forever. Pray then for him to rise up and help us.
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