Psalm 44 - Remember What the Lord has Done
Psalm 44:1 O God, we have clearly heard;
our ancestors have told us
what you did in their days,
in ancient times.
2 You, by your power, defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land;
There are many similarities between Israeli and American history. The Israelis were delivered out of bondage in Egypt and settled in the promised land. Our American forefathers were delivered out of religious persecution in Europe and settled in the new world, our promised land. God performed many miraculous deeds for both nations to deliver them and to establish them in their new lands. My own ancestors experienced persecution in 1600's Germany, and also experienced the mercy of God in granting them peace and prosperity in America, first settling in Pennsylvania with William Penn land grants in 1736, and later moving on to Illinois to help build the growing frontier. We need to remember what our ancestors have told us and thank God for his blessings to us.
(If you have not been taught these aspects of American history, the I recommend you read
20 If we had rejected our God,
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,
21 would not God discover it,
for he knows oneʼs thoughts?
Yet many forget. The ancient Israelis were attacked, conquered, and carried off to Babylon because the forgot what their God had done. So too, many Americans have forgotten what our God has done for us and we have abandoned His ways. We've slaughtered our own unborn children, and been let into a seemingly unending series of wars and terrorists attacks. Our leaders say that they care for the poor and downtrodden, but our families are broken and our young men are unemployed and many are dead or in prison. The war on poverty has become a war on the poor. When will we return to the God that delivered us and blessed us? When will we acknowledge that we have gone astray. It is not God that has abandoned us, but we who have forsaken Him.
17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you
or violated your covenant with us.
18 We have not been unfaithful,
nor have we disobeyed your commands.
Fortunately, there remain those who can say, with the psalmist, that they have not rejected God nor disobeyed His commands. These are those who are admonished by the writer of Chronicles to turn from their wicked ways and to call upon His name, that He might heal their land. (2 Chron 7:14). If those who still remember how the Lord has blessed us join together, maybe we can yet one more time, cry out, with the psalmist:
26 Rise up and help us!
Rescue us because of your loyal love!
Amen
Psalm 44
For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song.
1 O God, we have clearly heard;
our ancestors have told us
what you did in their days,
in ancient times.
2 You, by your power, defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land;
you crushed the people living there and enabled our ancestors to occupy it.
3 For they did not conquer the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength,
but rather by your power, strength and good favor,
for you were partial to them.
4 You are my king, O God!
Decree Jacobʼs deliverance!
5 By your power we will drive back our enemies;
by your strength we will trample down our foes!
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and I do not prevail by my sword.
7 For you deliver us from our enemies;
you humiliate those who hate us.
8 In God I boast all day long,
and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)
9 But you rejected and embarrassed us!
You did not go into battle with our armies.
10 You made us retreat from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.
11 You handed us over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for a pittance;
you did not ask a high price for them.
13 You made us an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.
14 You made us an object of ridicule among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt.
15 All day long I feel humiliated
and am overwhelmed with shame,
16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me.
17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you
or violated your covenant with us.
18 We have not been unfaithful,
nor have we disobeyed your commands.
19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs;
you have covered us with darkness.
20 If we had rejected our God,
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,
21 would not God discover it,
for he knows oneʼs thoughts?
22 Yet because of you we are killed all day long;
we are treated like sheep at the slaughtering block.
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up! Do not reject us forever!
24 Why do you look the other way,
and ignore the way we are oppressed and mistreated?
25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us!
Rescue us because of your loyal love!
The NET Bible
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