Friday, November 28, 2008
Psalm 44:17-26
All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way;
yet you have 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 spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
Rise up; come to our help!
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! (ESV)
by Angie Osborn
I think we can all relate to the psalmist. There are those times when we feel that God is not there. In this passage, the psalmist goes so far as to tell God to awake. We know that God never sleeps, and we know that he will not forsake us. Yet, in all honesty, sometimes we can join right in with David’s lament. David seems frustrated, maybe even angry with God as he seems to cry out “Where are you?” But in verse 26, his faith shows through when he says, “Rise up and help us; redeem us with your unfailing love.” David knew that no matter how bad it seemed, God was there and that his unfailing love would come through. We need to hold onto that same faith, believing that God is always there and that his love will not fail.
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
