“When You are Innocent but still suffering” (Psalm 44)
A time of great defeat when Israel was faithful to God- Assyria crisis during Hezekiah’s reign (Is. 36-37). ?
I.Reflect on God empowered victories (vs. 1-3)
1. Generations of Israelites passed down stores like Joshua’s conquest of the promise land. We should do
this in our homes. Even though His people fought, they knew it was God’s hand/arm (v2,3) that won the
victory. He drove out & afflicted the Canaanites & planted & spread abroad His people in their place.
2. When suffering innocently review past great victories God has won for & through His people.
II. Declare confident trust in God’s victories (vs. 4-8)
1. The Psalmist personally declared “my King” and asked Him to “command” victories for His people.
God’s word has unlimited authority (Matt. 8:8-9). He was confident that through God, they would push
back (“gore like an ox with horns”) & trample down their enemies.
2. Again he denied self-sufficiency, “not trust in my bow or sword.” The Lord would save them & put their
enemies to shame. Further confidence:“In God we have boasted all day long…give thanks…forever.”
3. The righteous person not experiencing God’s power of deliverance still needs to express trust in God’s
ability to “command” and boast in Him all day long.
III. Express bewilderment over God’s abandonment (vs. 9-16)
1. They were experiencing the opposite of what their victorious past & confident trust anticipated. God
seemingly had rejected them, brought them to dishonor, did not go out with their armies & caused them
to be defeated before their adversaries. The Good Shepherd allowed his flock to be slaughtered &
scattered. It is as if they had been sold at such a cheap price, that the seller (God) lost money in the deal.
2. They became an object of reproach and scoffing to their immediate neighbors & a byword and
laughingstock among the nations. “All day long” (v8) they had to endure the dishonor & humiliation as
their victorious enemy reproached & reviled them.
3. Express to God such bewilderment when what He has allowed seems to contradict what you know of
Him & when it seems He has nothing to gain by it.
IV. Confess innocencein suffering for God (vs. 17-22)
1. Such treatment makes sense if they had been unfaithful to God. However, he strongly asserted they had
not forgotten God, dealt falsely with their Covenant commitment, turned back or deviated to other gods.
2. Their land had been crushed by their enemies to the point of devastation where it was like a haunt of
jackals (Is. 34:13, 35:7) or completely covered with the shadow of death.
3. The Psalmist knew if they had forgotten God & turned to other gods, this would not be hidden from God
who knows the secrets of the heart (this helps me come clean before God).
4. The only answer he can come up with for the reason of their being “killed all day long” and “considered
as sheep (v11) to be slaughtered” is “for Your sake.” It is because of their association with His Name
(Matt. 5:11, John 15:15f). However, depressing the struggle, nothing can separate us from Him and His
love. Kidner- “Suffering may be a battle-scar rather than a punishment.” In fact, we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us (Romans 8:36-39).
V. Plead for deliverance from God (vs. 23-26)
1. God does not sleep (Ps. 121:4), but His seeming inactivity at times appears this way.
2. With bold language the Psalmist calls to the Lord to arouse Himself, awake, do not hide His face (v3),
not to forget His afflicted and oppressed people. The nation was at a low point as though in the dust near
death. God needed to rise up quickly to redeem/deliver them or it would be too late.
3. The appeal to act was God’s lovingkindness: His faithful commitment to His promises made in love.
The innocent suffering of the righteous did not cause them to turn away from God but to plead with
them all the more in light of His steadfast love & the urgency of the situation.