Psalm 44: The Strangest Complaint
This is one of the most theologically daring prayers in the whole Psalter. The sons of Korah begin by rehearsing the old stories — how God's right hand drove out the heathen, how the fathers won no land by their own sword. "In God we boast all the day long." And then, halfway through, the psalm pivots so sharply it almost gives you whiplash: "But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame." What makes this complaint so strange is that it is offered by the faithful. "All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant." They cannot reach for the usual explanation — that suffering is the wages of sin — because the books, in this case, do not balance. The covenant has been kept on their end and the sky is still closed. And so they pray the only honest prayer left to them: "Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?" Paul will quote this psalm in Romans 8 to describe the church itself: "For thy sake are we killed all the day long." Apparently faithful suffering is not a glitch in the system. It is sometimes the very shape of belonging to God.
00:00 We Have Heard With Our Ears
00:25 Not By Their Own Sword
00:50 Through Thee We Push Down Our Enemies
01:15 But Thou Hast Cast Off
01:45 A Byword Among the Heathen
02:10 Yet Have We Not Forgotten Thee
02:40 Sheep for the Slaughter
03:00 Awake, Why Sleepest Thou, O Lord