Can Your Foundation Handle The Pressure Of Your Life? (Psalm 44)
GIST: The truth we know prepares us to be honest about the pain we feel and cry out for the love we need.
After taking a different path last week for Father’s Day, we’re continuing our Summer in Psalms this morning and picking up with Psalm 44.
This psalm is a great example of why I feel so strongly about walking through this book together each summer. It speaks to the real experiences of broken people in a broken world trying to serve an awesome God.
We’re going to walk through the passage in 3 chunks this morning, but I’ll just start by giving you the gist: The truth we know prepares us to be honest about the pain we feel and cry out for the love we need.
I. The Truth We Know
Had my dad and I not decided to preach our tag-team sermon last Sunday, I really considered just camping out in verse one for Father’s Day. It expresses exactly what we as parents should be doing for our kids: putting the work of God on full display. Notice where the psalmist is coming from. “1 To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah. O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds You performed in their days, in the days of old: 2 You with Your own hand drove out the nations, but them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, but them You set free; 3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You delighted in them.”
He Has Grown Up Hearing About God’s Work (1-3). People have tried to determine to which point in Israel’s history this psalm is likely referring, but there isn’t any obvious reference to one specific time. Instead, this could really be taken as a summary of the entire Old Testament. In fact, what’s outlined here is true of God’s character throughout all time! He is the one who rescues. We don’t win victories in our own strength. It is God who comes into our contexts and makes a difference. He is the one who provides. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him. He is the one who delights in us, so we have meaning and purpose. We’re valuable because He values us. We don’t have to earn that grace. Those are the foundational truths we need to be telling ourselves and our kids… all the time.
Look at what this immediately results in for the psalmist. First→
He Knows God Is Still Able To Do This (4-5). “4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! 5 Through You we push down our foes; through Your name we tread down those who rise up against us.” He calls God his King—the one who is in control of his life, the One with real authority—and asks Him to come and save his people. That gives us a little insight into where the rest of this psalm is headed, as well. He then acknowledges that any overcoming that happens in his life is through God, so→
He Won’t Trust In His Own Power (6-8). “6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. 7 But You have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. 8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah” He has grown up on a healthy diet of God’s sovereignty, so he’s not trying to just take matters into his own hands. That’s beautiful and encouraging, and would be a really cool place to stop this morning… but it’s not where the psalm ends. Remember the gist? The truth we know→
II. Prepares Us To Be Honest About The Pain We Feel
That means this psalm is going to walk us through some pain, and that is absolutely where it takes us in this seemingly sharp turn. “9 But You have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies. 10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil. 11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You have sold Your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them. 13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. 15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face 16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.”
17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You, and we have not been false to Your covenant. 18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way; 19 yet You have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart. 22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Ok, so there is a lot in these verses. The psalmist goes from recounting God’s goodness and provision and determining to praise Him forever to… a really uncensored emotional outburst. Let’s just make two big picture observations about what’s being said here. First→
He Is Honest About How Much His Life Stinks Right Now. This actually happens a lot in the psalms which is a really nice reminder that—well—it’s ok to tell God what we’re feeling. He’s hurting. Just look back at some of the words I underlined in those verses. Rejected, disgraced, sheep for slaughter, sold with no benefit, a taunt, a derision, scorn, byword, laughingstock, disgrace, shame.
He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Are we this honest in our prayers? I’m going to come back to this, but let me point out the second point first→
He Knows God Is Still Sovereign Over This… Even If It Feels Unfair. Notice not only does he give God credit for all the good that has happened, he also acknowledges that God has to have allowed all of this to happen for it to be happening. Then, he admits that even through all of this, he—in fact, their whole community—hasn’t been at a point of rebellion. They haven’t forgotten about God or started worshipping other God’s. If they had, he notes, God would know that because He sees the secrets of the heart. He’s hurting and knows it isn’t any particular sin that has caused this, so he’s completely honest with the God he still believes is 100% in control.
How can he have that perspective? Because He’s been fed the right diet and is continuing to feed his heart reminders of who God is and what He does. Intimacy can handle honesty. I can tell my wife things I’d never dare mention to anyone else. I can be honest with her in ways that I couldn’t with other people. Why? Because our relationship has a foundation that can hold up to hard truths and uncomfortable truths and frustrating truths. If we foster a close relationship with Jesus, it should be like this…times a bazillion. So, the truth we know prepares us to face the pain we’ll feel with honesty→
III. And Cry Out For The Love We Need
If that middle of this psalm seemed a bit brash, check out the last few verses. “23 Awake! Why are You sleeping, O Lord? Rouse Yourself! Do not reject us forever! 24 Why do You hide your face? Why do You forget our affliction and oppression? 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. 26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of Your steadfast love!”
God is not in fact sleeping. He never does. But sometimes it might feel like that. The psalmist is crying out for God not to forget Him. He’s appealing to His steadfast love. Why? Because He believes that God will be who He has always been. The truth is burned in His heart, so→
He Doesn’t Deconstruct. That’s a fairly popular term in our culture today. Many who have been hurt by organized church are being encouraged to decontruct their faith. This often leads to either abandoning the truths of the Bible entirely, or modifying how they look at them in order to make them gel better with what popular culture is telling us about life. This psalmist’s life isn’t gelling very well with what he’s been taught about God, but instead of doubting God, He’s crying out to Him. He doesn’t understand, but→
He Knows Where To Take His Brokenness. I’ve pointed this out a lot as we’ve studied the psalms, but it’s such an important truth in my life. Instead of being broken and running away from God, the psalmists take their brokenness to God. Here, he feels abandoned. He feels betrayed. He feels forgotten. But he knows when perception doesn’t line up with what God has told us and shown us about Himself, that perception needs reoriented! We will feel broken, but we’re not meant to feel broken alone! So instead of running from God→
He Desires The Steadfast Love He Still Trusts. One of the most quoted passages of scripture, especially around graduation season, is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” It’s beautiful…and it’s true! However, what most overlook is that at the beginning of chapter 29, God tells the Israelites, who are currently exiles in Babylon, to buckle down because they’re going to be there for awhile. In fact, most won’t live to see that exile end, and still—He has plans to give them a future and a hope. God’s love doesn’t run out when our circumstances get hard. I know. That’s so much easier to say that to live, but it’s the abundant life we’ve been called to.
Let me try to recap this a bit with some→
TAKEAWAYS
Build a firm foundation for yourself…and your family. It’s impossible to stand on something that’s not there. It’s really hard to shoot a grappling hook when the floor drops out from underneath you…if you never had one in the first place. Dig into His word. Remind yourself and those around you of who God is and what He has done throughout all time…and in your life personally.
Pray to see the world through the lens of His grace. Seeing the great movements of God in the past, should remind us of our desperate need for Him in the present! It should also make us see the desperate need of those around us with more compassion.
Make a habit of being honest with God about your circumstances. Life is too short to walk on eggshells with God.
Remember, God isn’t sleeping, so you can cry out to Him. He’s listening and He’s able. Remember when the disciples freaked out because Jesus was napping during the storm? Their panic seemed silly when He stood up and told the storm to shut up! So→
Even when it’s hard to see through the pain, please, don’t run from His steadfast love.
Commissioning Connection
Today, we’re also going to take a few moments to have focused prayer for a group of missionaries leaving from our church and our community to go serve a group of people who are hurting right now. By design, World Changers seeks out people who could echo the middle section of this psalm. However, they may or may not have the foundation of grace the psalmists were writing from. Therefore, the mission of these who are going is to show the love of Jesus and share is rescuing gospel. Let’s pray that God will open their eyes to see the pain around them and their mouths to speak His truth.
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