Psalm 44

“If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.”  Psalm 44:20-26 (NKJV)

Today’s psalm is divided into three sections: past, present, and future. During a time of great distress, a small remnant in Judah has set their hearts toward revival. The psalm begins with God’s past faithfulness along with the admission that any past deliverance was solely the Lord’s doing and not their own. So, the psalmist does not petition the politicians, the merchants, or the army. He seeks the Lord, who fights on behalf of His own. He alone delivers! It is the same point the apostle Paul makes to the church in Rome, even quoting Psalm 44 to provide context for his faith.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39 (NKJV)

While the nation of Israel was being judged for having departed from God’s Word, the remnant of those who had returned to the Lord and committed to living according to His Word wondered if the Lord had noticed their repentance. They even asked if He was sleeping! It brings context to a New Testament account.

“But as they sailed He (Jesus) fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!’”  Luke 8:23-25 (NKJV)

Even if we feel God is asleep, He’s always in control. Rest and know that He’s got you!