Psalm 44

Psalm 44

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah

-

A Psalm about Confusing Times

A Psalm about Hard Times

A Psalm about the Righteous Suffering

-

"Why God?"

"I don't understand."

A Psalm of Questions

A Psalm of Emotions 

The raw emotions and distressing thoughts

begin in

verse 9.

Starting with that verse,

the sons of Korah

express their 

frustration

because even though the Jews are following God,

they are experiencing defeat.

The

Sons of Korah

begin this psalm

with

wholehearted praise and worship to God.

Verses 1-3

Praises for past victories of the Jewish people.

Verses 4-8

Praises for future victories of the Jewish people.

Verses 4-8 are rooted in faith and trust in God.

Verses 1 - 8

are beautiful and inspiring.

The Sons of Korah

are showing forth

their dedication to God and respect for God.

The song below

sings the first 8 verses of this psalm.

Next, we read

Verse 9,

and the mood

changes.

~ ~ ~

Beginning in verse 9,

the Sons of Korah begin to think about

and dwell on 

their Present Problems. 

Their

Current

Situation

is Full of Trouble.

I understand the sudden change.

I myself have been

in difficult and confusing situations,

where I was praising God and

feeling uplifted and strong.

Then

suddenly,

thoughts of my challenges pulled me down into despair.

-

At such a time,

I have been praising God and speaking Scriptures

and

all of a sudden,

some disturbing thoughts

about my current situation

overwhelmed my mind.

All of a sudden,
my emotions began to free fall.

The disturbing thoughts
began to expand.

I was emotionally sinking.

In Psalm 44

verses 9-22,

the sons of Korah

talk of

their

current situation.

Verses 9-16

At verse 9,

the psalm turns to

upsetting thoughts and emotions.

New King James Version

But You have cast us off and put us to shame,
And You do not go out with our armies.
¹⁰ You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

¹¹ You have given us up like sheep intended for food,
And have scattered us among the nations.
¹² You sell Your people for next to nothing,
And are not enriched by selling them.

¹³ You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scorn and a derision to those all around us.
¹⁴ You make us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head among the peoples.

¹⁵ My dishonor is continually before me,
And the shame of my face has covered me,
¹⁶ Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
Because of the enemy and the avenger.

Verses 17-19

The next verses let us (the readers) know

that

these people have not abandoned God.

They do not have

unrepentant sins.

This does not mean they never sin.

It does mean that

they are working to

better and better

obey God.

They are practicing righteousness.

As 1 John 2:29 says,

If you know that HE is righteous,

you know that

everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

And

1 John 3:10 says,

In this

the children of God and the children of the devil

are manifest:

Whoever does not practice righteousness

is not of God

nor is he who does not love his brother. 

Psalm 44

verses 17-19

say,

All this has come upon us;

But we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps departed from Your way;

¹⁹ But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.

In Deuteronomy 28, Moses was instructed by God to tell the people that...

God will give blessings if they obey him.

God will give cursings if they disobey him.

Deuteronomy 28

is still true for them during the days of the sons of Korah.

Yet,

just like in the book of Job,

we all suffer at times.

Sometimes we suffer when we have done nothing wrong.

Our suffering can be very confusing.

We need to teach these truths to believers today.

Many people turn away from God during suffering.

Many people make

slippery slope

decisions

during suffering.

Near the bottom of the page

 - the next to last section - 

there are tips for dealing with times of

Suffering.

Also see our

Prayers during Suffering

In some psalms such as Psalm 74 and Psalm 79,

the Jewish people were being punished

for their unrepentant sins and attitudes. 

-

In this psalm,

the people are faithful to God.

Verses 20-22

If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,

²¹ Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.

Obvious Answer is Yes.

²² Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Verses 23-26

²³ Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Arise! Do not cast us off forever.

²⁴ Why do You hide Your face,
And forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵ For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.

²⁶ Arise for our help,
And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.

The psalmists ask...

Why God?

That is a natural question to suffering.

The sons of Korah are thinking

these kinds of thoughts...

These terrible things are happening.

We feel confused.

We feel all these negative emotions.

WHY are we suffering?

The Bible addresses suffering

but it does not give us all the answers

as to WHY we suffer.

We must learn to accept that suffering is a part of life.

-

Important Note:

We will suffer less

if we are trying to obey God.

But nothing we do can stop all suffering.

" Arise "

Verse 23 and verse 26

call out to God to 

ARISE!

I have posted

several pages about the call to God to 

Arise.

When I am down, I go to the pages listed below

to feel more uplifted.

Consider visiting our pages:

Psalm 10 Arise

Arise healing prayer

Hesed

The last Hebrew word in Psalm 44 

is

Hesed

which can be spelled in English several different ways

such as Checed.

In the

New King James Version,

this Hebrew word is translated

Your Mercies.

It can also be translated as

goodness, or love, or lovingkindness.

When I was in seminary,

one of my professors loved talking about

the Hebrew word 

"Hesed."

It appeared to be his favorite topic.

He talked in warm and awe-inspiring tones

about the full meaning of

 God's Hesed.

God's Hesed can be defined as:

Unfailing love, continuous love,

strong love,

powerful love, abounding love,

everlasting love

It is a merciful love.

It is a personal love implying personal involvement with us.

Mercy = Steadfast love = Hesed

God's love is a love that will not let us go all the days of our life.

God loves us.

God pursues us.

God woos us.

Every day God gives

unbelievers

the opportunity

to accept Jesus as

Savior and Lord of our life.

The Hesed of God should provoke genuine gratitude.

Psalm 136

is a famous psalm

that features this Hebrew word.

Ideas during Psalm 44 times of Suffering

In the midst of trouble,

pray

openly and honestly

to God

and re-dedicate yourself to him.

Read and speak God's Scriptures.

For example Morning Scriptures - Here

And a page on

Psalm 71:16 on gaining spiritual strength - Here

Listen to

inspiring music.

For example - Here

Listen to songs of God's love for you.

For example - Here

If you feel surrounded by trouble - Here

Intentionally, surround yourself with godly activities.

Ending Comments

I read a comment by someone about Psalm 44. 

The comment about the psalm was...

"When I read Psalm 44, I am Gloriously Bewildered."

Suffering IS bewildering.

My comment is

After you and I have read this Psalm

and allowed

our own emotions to have a full voice....

May we end this psalm, strong in the Lord.

May we end this psalm
in a peaceful place with God.

May we decide to steadfastly love our Glorious Lord.

And may we trust God and just say,

"I am Gloriously Bewildered." 

Amen

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