Psalm 44

1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.

Key Verse:
1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

Key Observation:
A prophetic psalm of Israel’s coming problems.

Memory Verse:
8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.

Devotion:
Recently one night I awoke to the cats making a disturbance in the hallway. Getting up, in my bare feet, mind you, and walking in the hallway I found the cats had found a rat. Actually only one cat had found the rat; the rest of the cats were respectfully, and very attentively, watching. The rat made a scurry to get away, flitting across my foot, but to no avail. The cat pounced, brought the rat back to the corner and let it go again. The rat, seeing itself surrounded on every side by its enemies, stood on its hind legs, took a deep breath, and opening its mouth wider than I thought possible, let loose with an enormous hiss. The hiss was so loud it even put the cat off for a moment.

I can tell you at that moment I found something noble in that rat, a creature I usually savor for despising, especially after feeling little rat claws scurrying over my foot. I tell you, that rat knew that he was lost, totally unable to get out of his certain death. What a noble defiance he gave at his last moment! That is this psalm exactly. Israel is surrounded on every side. “Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.” Help will come for Israel in what will certainly be the most dramatic scene in all of history. Israel, just like my “noble” rat, with be standing in a corner, giving its last hiss, knowing that all is lost. In that day, the scripture tells us elsewhere “that they will look on Him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn.”

What manner of man should I be, knowing in advance the outcome. God will be victorious! I have told the story elsewhere in its drama. Oh Lord, grant me the grace and power to proclaim faithfully Thy advent and Thy return!