“All this has come upon us”
[Psalms 44:9-26]
There are people around us who are struggling with unexpected difficulties when they are trying to move toward a new goal that they have set as they give meaning to a new start. What should we do in this situation? Maybe we should learn from Indians. Indians call January 'the moon that stays deep in our heart'. It is said that the Indians regard January as a calming month rather than a new beginning. We need to remain silent before God in the midst of unexpected hardships. In Austria, there is a game that swims across the Danube river. The most dangerous place in this game is the vortex area in the center of the river, and it is said that many players give up the game at this point. It is said that no matter how good they swim, it is of no use at the vortex. It is said that the more they move their body, the deeper their body will be suck in to that vortex. Later, they will be exhausted and give up the game. However, it is said that those experienced players overcome the vortex well. The secret is simple. In other words, the pros leave themselves to the vortex for a while. Then, it is said that the heavy wave sucks a person's body to the maximum and returns him to the surface of the water. Keeping still for a moment is the key to overcoming the vortex. We will meet the vortex of life again this year. Some of us have already met the vortex of life. At that time, let us entrust ourselves completely to God. He will save us and put us in the right place.
In the Old Testament, there are three friends of Daniel who met the vortex of life. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn’t succumb to the orders of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and bowed down to and worshiped the golden image. So King Nebuchadnezzar commanded certain valiant warriors to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. At that time, they were convinced that even if they entered into the furnace of blazing fire, God could deliver them. But Daniel’s three friends, who had “But even if He does not” faith, told King Nebuchadnezzar boldly that “we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Dan. 3:18). What a beautiful faith is this? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who gave their entire lives to God who was in charge of life and death, were saved even in the vortex of their lives.
When we look at Psalms 44:9-26, we see the psalmist meeting the vortex of life like Daniel's three friends. In the midst of this, we can see that the psalmist had precious faith like Daniel's three friends: “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant” (Ps. 44:17). I sincerely hope and pray that by the grace of God we may be able to keep His covenant without forgetting the Lord in the midst of the vortex of life that comes to us as we receive His grace in meditation of Psalms 44:9-26.
The first to thing to think about is “All this”.
Look at Psalms 44:17 – “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.” What was all that happened to the psalmist and his people, the Israelites? It was trouble. And the Bible says that the cause of the trouble was that the Lord had rejected the psalmist and the Israelites: “Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor …” (v. 9). Here, the word “rejected” refers to hatred and forsaking (Calvin). In other words, the psalmist thought that he and the Israelites were suffering because the Lord hated him and the Israelites and forsook them. But is this true? Did God really hate the Israelites? The reason why God gave the blessing of salvation to the Israelites in the process of conquering the land of Canaan at the time of the Exodus was because the Lord loved them (v. 3). Why would that God hate the psalmist and the Israelites? And how could God reject and forsake them? This was just the psalmist’s feeling and thought in the midst of extreme hardship.
In Psalms 44:9 and on, the psalmist is lamenting for the personal and national trouble that they have faced. In particular, he lemented in a way that he didn’t understand why God had forsaken the Israelites because he thought that they were in trouble because God hated them (Park). He lamented because God left the Israelites alone even though in the past He saved them with His power because He loved them. Specifically, there were two reasons why the psalmist thought that God had forsaken the Israelites.
(1) It was because the Israelites were defeated in a war.
Look at Psalms 44:10 – “You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.” The Israelites were defeated after fighting with their enemies and retreated before their enemy, so their enemy plundered them. What was the cause? Look at verse 9b: “… you no longer go out with our armies.” In other words, the victory of war was in the presence of God, but God wasn’t with the Israelites, so they were defeated.
(2) It was because the conquered Israelites were oppressed.
In Psalms 44:11-16, we can think of the oppressed that the Israelites received in three ways: (a) First, some of the Israelites were slaughtered like sheep to be eaten by their enemy (v. 11) (Park), (b) Second, the Israelites were defeated in the war and were taken captive by their enemy to the foreign countries (vv. 11b-12) (Park), and (c) Third, while living in captivity, the Israelites were slandered and humiliated by their enemy. Look at Psalms 44:13-16: “You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us. 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.” It is inevitable that the defeated country is being reproached and reviled by the victorious country (Park). The Israelites were defeated in the war and were taken captive to the foreign countries, where they suffered all kinds of reproaches and reviles.
The second and last thing to think about is that when all this happened to the Israelites, what did they do.
According to Psalms 44:17, the psalmist said that the Israelites didn’t forget the Lord. He also testified that he and the Israelites didn’t violate the Lord's covenant. How precious is this faith? The psalmist and the Israelites who were in all sorts of slander, humiliation, and suffering, didn’t forget the Lord. And they also didn’t break the promise (covenant) with the Lord. This is what Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘Faith that doesn’t change even all suffering comes is precious. The weak believers try to avoid suffering by compromising with injustice and thus commit sins against God when persecution comes to them. But the faithful believers stand firm and don’t shake even at such times’ (Park).
Specifically, how did the the psalmist and the Israelites express that they didn’t forget the Lord and violate the Lord's covenant despite all the trouble? We can think in three ways:
(1) The psalmist and the Israelites didn’t deviate from the Lord’s way.
Look at Psalms 44:18 – “Our heart has not turned back, And our steps have not deviated from Your way.” The reason why th psalmist and the Israelites didn’t deviate from the Lord's way amid all suffering and trouble was because their hearts didn’t leave the Lord. Rather, they lived a rich spiritual life in the midst of trouble. This is what Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘It seems that those who are in a peaceful environment are happy, but their spiritual life is slack’ (Park). However, the psalmist and the Israelites lived the rich spiritual life in the midst of suffering. This is what the psalmist said about how godly his innocence was and that his incision in faith was clean before God: “If we had forgotten the name of our God Or extended our hands to a strange god, Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart” (vv. 20-21). He confessed that his godliness was pure before God who knew everything in his heart.
(2) The psalmist and the Israelites participated in the Lord's suffering.
Look at Psalms 44:22 – “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” The psalmist and the Israelites suffered in the hands of persecutors unfairly 'for the Lord.' If they had forgotten God, they would have broken the covenant with God and deviated from the Lord’s truth, and would have escaped without suffering for Him. But they were considered as sheep to be slaughtered for the Lord. Apostle Paul also said in Philippians 3:10 that he was being conformed to Jesus’ death in order to know the fellowship of His suffering. What was the reason? The reason was because Paul knew that it was God’s grace to participate in the Lord’s suffering (1:29). The psalmist and the Israelites in Psalms 44 suffered. But they didn’t forget the Lord, but rather they participated in His suffering.
(3) The psalmist and the Israelites didn’t forget the Lord and prayed to Him.
Look at Psalms 44:23-24: “Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever. Why do You hide Your face And forget our affliction and our oppression?” Looking at the contents of this prayer, it seems like the psalmist is praying with a complaining heart to God, with the feeling that the Lord is sleeping. However, this prayer is earnest prayer to God while the psalmist was patience in suffering. In particular, the psalmist said that he had not forgotten the Lord among all these hardships and eagerly asked Him not to forget their suffering and oppression. He said that he and the Israelites were suffering, “For our soul has sunk down into the dust; Our body cleaves to the earth” (v. 25), in the midst of that he prayed to God: “Rise up, be our help, And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness” (v. 26).
There are brothers and sisters in Christ around us who are struggling and suffering in the unexpected vortex of life. I hope and pray that we will not forget the Lord like the psalmists and the Israelites, even if all these hardships and adversities have come upon us. All of us must not break the covenant of the Lord. We must not deviate from the Lord's truth and His way. Rather, we must enjoy the grace of participating in the Lord's suffering. In the midst of that, I hope and pray that we, who rely on the mercy of the Lord, pray for His salvation.
Remembering our Lord Jesus Christ, who was forsaken by Heavenly Father and suffered all kinds of hardships and insults,
James Kim
(Thinking about those brothers and sisters in Christ who meditate on the suffering of the Lord's cross in the vortex of life)