Understanding the Psalm 44

We do not know who wrote Psalm 44. We do not know when they wrote it. When we read the psalm, two things are clear:

·   someone had hurt the Jews

  ·   the Jews had done nothing wrong.

We do not know when this happened. Perhaps it was when David was king, or up to 500 years after.

What Psalm 44 means

The psalm is in 3 parts. Verses 1-8 tell us what God did for the Jews when they came into their country. It was not the Jews that won the land for them, but God. His hand (verses 2 and 3) and his arm (verse 3) mean "what God did". (Some Christians say that God’s hand is "the *Holy Spirit" and his arm is Jesus.) The "light on your face" (verse 3) means "the good way that God looked at people so that he did good things for them". The enemies of the Jews were the people that lived in the land before they did.

But in verses 9 to 22 we read that something bad has happened.

The Jews had done nothing wrong, but their enemies had done bad things to them. This often happens to Christian people. Why does God let it happen? He does it to make his people strong. Sheep were animals that people killed for the meat. "Thrown us into other countries" means "put us in countries where we did not live before". The *covenant in verse 17 is what God agreed to do if his people obeyed him. Here, in verses 17-22, the people are saying that they kept their part of the *covenant, but God did not keep his. In other words, they obeyed God, but he did not care for them. We often feel *like this. When it happens we must remember that:

  ·   God lets it happen to make us strong

  ·   we must go on believing in God.

It happened to Jesus, and we must be *like him!

In verses 23 - 26 the person that wrote the psalm prays. He (or she) asks God to wake up and send help! Whatever happens, we must always ask God to send help!

Something to do

Listen to the news on the radio or watch it on the television. When you hear about or see bad things happening to people, pray for them. If they are God’s people, pray harder! It does not mean that they are bad people, but it does mean that God is wanting to make them stronger.

[Message No: 7859]