Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor
To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah.
“We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, the deeds You did in their days, in days of old: You drove out the nations with Your hand, but them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them. You are my King, O God; command victories for Jacob.
Through You we will push down our enemies; through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me. But You have saved us from our enemies, and have put to shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever. Selah
But You have cast us off and put us to shame, and You do not go out with our armies. You make us turn back from the enemy, and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You have given us up like sheep intended for food, and have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people for next to nothing, and are not enriched by selling them. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those all around us. You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.
My dishonor is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me, because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, because of the enemy and the avenger. All this has come upon us; but we have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way; but You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.”
Actions have consequences. At the time this psalm was written, the Israelites were under persecution from their enemies and the citizens of the Northern Kingdom had probably already been slaughtered or taken into exile in Assyria. God had Moses warn the Israelites of this possibility before they ever entered Canaan. In Deuteronomy 31, God is giving Moses his final orders and predicts that the Israelites will prove unfaithful and will reap the consequences.
Deuteronomy 31:16-19 says “And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods. “Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.“
The song referred to here is the Song of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy 32. The Israelites were to learn it and to teach it to their children; however it’s doubtful that teaching was repeated for more than one or two generations. Now the Israelites are reaping the effects of centuries of idolatry. Even though the psalmist himself appears to be a righteous man, he obviously is unaware of the Song of Moses; otherwise, he wouldn’t bring out these complaints as he is doing.
The psalmist begins by reminding God of all the great things He has done for Israel and avowing that the Israelites have continued to worship God. Then the psalmist goes on to describe the shame, devastation and confusion resulting from repeated attacks by enemies. Although the psalmist is arguing that the Israelites have not abandoned God; in fact, he is wrong. Actions have consequences, and God has already warned what will happen if His people turn away from Him. When King Solomon marries a huge number of foreign women and begins building shrines to foreign gods throughout Jerusalem, he lays a spiritually rotten foundation that results in disaster. When the Northern Kingdom splits off from Judah, Jeroboam establishes his own religion with two huge shrines to prevent worshipers from going to Jerusalem as God has commanded. It’s possible that by the time this psalm is being written, the Northern Kingdom of Israel has already fallen and the Babylonians are besieging Judah.
The final plea from the psalmist is heart-rending. “Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.” But God is NOT asleep, nor has He forgotten the afflictions and the oppression of His people. Even while this psalmist is writing a song of despair, God is beginning to stir in the heart of King Cyrus of Persia so that Cyrus will call for Jewish leaders to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple and the city walls.
APPLICATION: This psalm illustrates a problem: Sometimes we may be righteous but we may be stuck in an unrighteous situation. Either this psalmist is quite naïve or he is choosing to ignore the unrighteous behavior of his compatriots, but either way, he is wrong in arguing that the Israelites are virtuous. Were the ancient Israelites virtuous, God would never have removed His hand of protection from them. But this psalm is a good one because it illustrates the fact that even when we are righteous people caught in unrighteous situations, we may still appeal to God for deliverance. No matter how hard we try, our righteousness will never equal that of God’s. But we can appeal to God’s mercy, and this is the basis for this psalmist’s appeal.
Many times we may find ourselves mired in difficult situations through no fault of our own. In such times, we may readily call on God’s mercy and grace to help us. But we also must remember that if we are worshiping God, then He has the right to send us into such situations as witnesses to His holiness and His saving power. St. Julian of Norwich wrote in 1373, “He did not say ‘You shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted’. But he did say, ‘You shall not be overcome. ‘ God wants us to heed these words so that we shall always be strong in trust, both is sorrow and in joy.” (For more information about Julian, you can go to https://www.stjohnstimberhill.org/julians-revelations#:~:text=He%20did%20not%20say%20’You,is%20sorrow%20and%20in%20joy.)
Today you may find yourself battling family problems, health problems, job-related issues, and a host of other worries. In each of these settings, you have remained righteous; yet, things are just not working out as you have hoped and you are beginning to despair. DON’T DESPAIR! God is still on the throne and He is still working. Your deliverance is on the way, but you must wait while God puts everything into place. When all is ready, deliverance may come in the blink of an eye. Old saints used to speak of “possessing your soul in peace.” This phrase means that you should stop fretting, trust God, and allow His peace to fill your heart, so there is no room for worry.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us can identify with the writer of this psalm. We have tried to do everything right and yet life appears to be nothing but a mess. Please enter the hearts of all those who read these words and give them Your peace, Your patience, Your understanding, and Your grace. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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