If you’ve been watching any of the World Cup matches, then you’ll probably have heard some familiar phrases. Even if their team weren’t playing, the commentators will have managed to fit in something about 1966; something about ‘Football’s coming home’; and something about the England team. Right up until about 9.30pm on Wednesday evening, when their laments began.
Whether you’re interested in football or not; whether you saw the match or not; whether you wanted them to win or not; the plight of the English football team are an illustration of what’s going on in Psalm 44. You have the retelling of past glories (1966 and all that); you have the reality of present defeat (the players looking distraught); you have the reasoning of the situation, making sense of it (when the commentators watch the replay, to see what went wrong); and the response (what needs to happen now).
The retelling of past glories; The reality of present defeat; The reasoning of the situation; The response. Let’s dive into Psalm 44 on page 568.
First up, we have the retelling of past glories. Remember 1966 and all that. The Psalm looks back to the way things used to be. The stories of the good old days, of when God used to give his people great victories. That’s what verse 1 looks back to: ‘We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. With your hand your drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.’
The psalm retells the glory days of the past - when the people of Israel came into the promised land. They had escaped from Egypt, wandered in the desert, then came into and conquered the promised land, Canaan. And how did they do it? It wasn’t by their strength (3) - ‘it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.’
God had given them the victory, because he loved them. They were his people, so he gave them the promised land. And that’s what happened in days long ago. But the glory days were also more recent. So in verses 4-8, he’s still retelling past glories. Victories in the current generation. If v1-3 was about God doing it for them, our fathers; v4-8 are about God doing it for ‘us’.
God is ‘my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob’. It’s through God ‘we push back our enemies... trample our foes... [God who] gives us victory... puts our adversaries to shame.’ The retelling of past glories leads to verse 8, the joyful praise of God who gives the victory:
‘In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name for ever.’
Retelling of past glories brings praise for the God of glory. And it would be great to be able to stop the Psalm here. To rejoice in all that God has done - past, present and future. To only ever experience victory at his hands. To never suffer defeat, or to never suffer at all.
But, and there is a but, it’s not like that now. The retelling of past glories almost makes the reality of present defeat even harder to bear. Because in verse 9, we see the reality of present defeat. And it begins with that ‘But now’. It used to be like this - 1966, and hope was high, football’s coming home - but now we lost in the semi-final.
The outline we’re using to look at the Psalm is all about the R’s - retelling, reality, reasoning and response. But in verses 9-16 we see even more R words to describe the reality of the present defeat: ‘you have REJECTED and humbled us’ (9). ‘You made us RETREAT before the enemy’ (10). You have made us a REPROACH to our neighbours’ (13). And the bonus verse 16 with 3 more R words: ‘My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame at the taunts of those who REPROACH and REVILE me, because of the enemy, who is bent on REVENGE’ (15-16).
The reality of the present is so painful because God seems to have rejected them. God used to do all these great things, but now, he has rejected them. He hasn’t helped them. Instead, they are devoured like sheep, scattered, and sold (11-12).
So, what do you do when something like this happens? You’ve heard how great God was, all the amazing things he did long ago. You retell them; but they don’t match up with your reality of present defeat. What are you likely to do when suffering comes? When things aren’t the way you planned or hoped or dreamed?
You’re likely to ask - why is this happening? Why me? Why this? Why now? And so you try to reason it out, try to work it out. So, the other night, the commentators showed the video replays, how the defence was getting tired, and the goals that should have been scored. They were searching for the reasons why the defeat happened.
And that’s what we do as well. Is this because of something I’ve done? Why has this happened? In verses 17-22, the writer looks for reasons. Had the people forgotten God, maybe? Had they been false to God’s covenant? Had they turned away from God, or strayed from his path? Had they begun to follow a foreign small-g god?
If any of those things had happened, then they might have understood why God had seemingly rejected them. There would have been a reason for the rejection; a reason for their reality. But, the psalm is quite emphatic. They haven’t done any of those things. He’s sure of it. Do you see how he puts it?
‘All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant. Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness.’
We didn’t do any of those things. Yet we’re suffering. And, as verse 20 goes on, if we had have done those things, forgotten the name of God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, well, God would have known about it. ‘Would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?’
God knows the secrets of the heart. He sees below the surface. He knows us deeper than anyone else could possibly know us. And so, the writer appeals to their innocence in this regard. They haven’t turned away from God; they’re still committed to God; so why are they suffering? What’s the reason?
Verse 22 seems to give a bit of a reason for the suffering. ‘Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ It’s for your sake; for God’s sake. Their suffering is because they are God’s people. And that suffering can even include facing death, being considered as sheep for the slaughter.
It’s not what they want. It’s not what they expect - not when they’ve heard of past glories, when God worked the victory for them. Yet now, their present reality is that of suffering, not because they’ve rejected God, but because they are God’s people. And that might be the place where you find yourself today. You’re suffering, not because you’ve done anything wrong, but because you are a child of God.
Isn’t this what was happening on the cross? The Lord Jesus had lived the perfect life. He had definitely never forgotten God, or been false, or followed a foreign god. Yet he suffered and died - the sheep to be slaughtered, the precious Lamb of God.
He suffered so that we could be saved and redeemed. That was the reason for his suffering. And God is at work even in and through our suffering. He is growing our dependence on him. He is growing our Christlikeness. He is using our faithful witness to show others how great our God is. These might be some of the reasons why the faithful suffer.
But that doesn’t stop us from asking God to intervene. In the last verses we see the response. Verses 23-26 are a prayer, calling on God to awake, to rouse yourself! ‘We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.’ It’s a prayer asking God to act, to help, to save. And it’s rooted in God’s unfailing love - the same love that was mentioned in verse 3. God you love us, so please, act. Redeem us. Save us.
It’s a prayer that God will answer. Maybe not immediately, but ultimately, he will act and answer. And we can still be sure of this today. How can we be sure? Because a portion of this Psalm is picked up and quoted in the New Testament. You may have heard it in our second reading.
Verse 22 in Psalm 44 is quoted in Romans 8:36. The apostle Paul is asking, what shall we say in response to the good news of the Lord Jesus, everything that he has written about in Romans up to this point. We’ll do Romans sometime soon, but for now, Paul establishes that God is for us; that God, who gave his Son for us, will give us everything else; that God is the one who justifies us; that no one can condemn us; and then he asks that final question in verse 35: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’
He lists a range of possible answers - all the experiences of Christian believers in the first century, and still being experienced today. ‘Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?’ Will any of those things keep us from Christ’s love? Will any of our own experiences of suffering do it? And then he quotes Ps 44:22. He shows that far from being unusual, actually, this is the normal life experience of the Christian believer. ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’
So what is Paul’s response? ‘No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.’ So much so that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We may retell the past glories; we may struggle through the reality of present defeat; we may look for the reasons why; but our response must be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. We may indeed suffer in all sorts of ways, but it is suffering with Christ, for his sake; not apart from Christ. So do not lose heart. Be assured of his love for you in the gospel. The love that you will never be separated from. His ‘unfailing love.’
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 15th July 2018.
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