Will you please turn to Psalm 44?
Psalm 44.
Psalm 44.
For the Chief Musician; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.
A Maskil.O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our fathers have told us,
What work Thou didst in their days,
In the days of old.Thou didst drive out the nations with Thy hand, but them Thou didst plant;
Thou didst afflict the peoples, but them Thou didst spread abroad.For they got not the land in possession by their own sword,
Neither did their own arm save them;
But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance,
Because Thou wast favorable unto them.
Thou art my King, O God:
Command deliverances for Jacob.Through Thee will we push down our adversaries:
Through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.But Thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto Thy name for ever. Selah.
But now Thou hast cast us off, and brought us to dishonor,
And goest not forth with our hosts.Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary;
And they that hate us take spoil for themselves.Thou hast made us like sheep appointed for food,
And hast scattered us among the nations.Thou sellest Thy people for nought,
And hast not increased Thy wealth by their price.Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to them that are round about us.Thou makest us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head among the peoples.All the day long is my dishonor before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth,
By reason of the enemy and the avenger.
All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from Thy way,Though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or spread forth our hands to a strange god,Will not God search this out?
For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off for ever.Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our body cleaveth unto the earth.Rise up for our help,
And redeem us for Thy lovingkindness’ sake.
Our heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for Thy precious Word. We know that Thy Word is meant for us. Therefore, we ask that the Holy Spirit will breathe upon Thy Word and make it living, real, and operative in our lives.
We ask Thee, O Lord, that Thou wilt teach us the lesson that Thou wantest us to learn, that Thou mayest be glorified in our lives. To Thee be all the praise and glory, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
This is another psalm of the sons of Korah. We mentioned before that the sons of Korah were spared from destruction through the mercy of God. Because they were spared, because they had gone through, as it were, the experience of the cross, they appreciated God in a very special way. They were called to be singers in the temple.
Now, this psalm is called an instruction. In other words, there is a lesson in this psalm, and through this psalm this lesson is to be taught. Now, what is the lesson that is taught in this psalm?
You know, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 are actually one. In Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, we are taught the lesson of hope:
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God;
For I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.
Again:
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
You will find in these two psalms, in the three divisions that we have, they all end with “Hope thou in God.” So these two psalms teach us the lesson of hope.
Psalm 44 teaches us the lesson of faith, and Psalm 45 teaches us the lesson of love. There abide faith, hope, and love. These are the three essentials of our Christian life, and these are the three things that we need to learn very much before God.
Faith, to the psalmist and to the sons of Korah, is not a theory or a theology. Faith, to the psalmist and the singers, is a living reality—something they had experienced in their lives. To put it another way, faith is their way of life.
And is it not true that faith is the way of our life? Faith is the gift of God. Faith is not something that we can manufacture ourselves. Faith is not something we can work up. You know, oftentimes people try to work up their faith. It is a fake.
Faith is the gift of God. In Ephesians 2:8, we are told:
For by grace have ye been saved through faith;
And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Not of works, that no man should glory.
Faith is something that God gives. It is a gift. But, on the other hand, faith is something that we need to learn. No one is born with faith. Faith is not something innate. Faith is something that we need to learn as we walk before God.
In Romans 10:17, we are told that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. When the Word of God is heard, it needs to be received. And when it is received, then faith comes forth.
Abraham, the father of faith, was not born with faith. It was through disobedience, through so many trials, and even through failures, that he learned what faith is.
Any gift of God needs to be received. If a gift is not received, it is not yours. But when it is received, then it becomes your portion.
You know, in more modern history, there is one man who is known as a man of faith: George Müller. He was a German. He went to England to study, that he might be a missionary to the Jews. But while he was studying, the Lord changed his course.
Finally, he resided in England, and God used him in the work of orphanages. He felt that the Christians at that time did not know what faith is. Therefore, he founded orphanages and took care of thousands of orphans. He never told people his needs; he told God.
By faith, he did this marvelous work of the orphanages. In his lifetime, he had half a million answered prayers that could be traced. He was a man of faith.
So when people asked Müller, “You must have the gift of faith,” he said, “No, I do not have the gift of faith. I have the grace of faith.” He received what God had given.
So, dear brothers and sisters, here you find in this psalm that it teaches us what faith is. Look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. If we try to find faith in ourselves, we will not find it there. If we try to find faith by looking around, we will not find it.
But if we look away from ourselves, look away from our environment, and look steadfastly unto Jesus—the Author, the Originator, the Giver of our faith—then we will have faith.
Now, in this psalm, we find how the lesson of faith is learned. Roughly, this psalm can be divided into four parts—four stanzas.
The first stanza, from verses 1 through 8, may be called the testimony of faith.
The second part, from verses 9 through 16, is the testing of faith.
The third part, from verses 17 through 22, is the travail of faith.
The last part, verses 23 through 26, is the cry of faith.
How does faith arise in the heart of a person? Here you find that the psalm begins with, “O God.” Now remember, these psalms have a continuity.
If you read the preceding two psalms, you find the psalmist looking into himself. While he was looking into himself, his soul was cast down and he was disquieted. He was looking at his environment, and while he was looking at his environment, he was disquieted. His soul was in trouble. He sank, just like Peter.
When Peter’s eyes were upon the Lord, he walked upon the water. But when he looked at the water, he sank. That is what you find in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43.
But thank God, at the beginning of Psalm 44 he says, “O God.” In other words, he turned his eyes away from himself, away from his environment, and turned his eyes upon God.
So he turned his eyes upon God. Then he heard better. You know, if you want to hear somebody—especially people like me, whose ears are not too good—oftentimes brothers and sisters say names and I do not hear them.
If you sit by me, you may notice that I am trying to find out what was said because I have not heard. I would appreciate it if you would speak louder.
But anyway, you will find that people whose hearing is somewhat impaired can hear better if they are able to look at the person speaking. And it is true with hearing God’s voice.
If our eyes are not upon Him, He may speak, but we do not hear. Oh, we do not hear, right? But if we turn our eyes upon the Lord, then we shall hear His voice.
Here, this is the way that faith begins: “O God, with our ears have we heard.” The eyes of the psalmist are upon the Lord, and now his ears begin to hear. He heard the voice of history—of divine history.
Faith comes by hearing. So he heard the report. And what did the psalmist hear? He said, “Our fathers have told us the work Thou wroughtest in their days, in the days of old.”
Thou, by Thy hand, didst dispossess the nations, but them Thou didst plant;
Thou didst afflict the peoples, but them Thou didst cause to spread abroad.
In other words, when his eyes were turned upon the Lord, then his ears began to hear what God had done with the nation of Israel. God brought them out of Egypt, God brought them through the terrible wilderness, and God brought them into the promised land.
God dispossessed the nations that occupied the promised land, and God planted His people in the land. Now, this is something of tremendous work. Think of that—how God did such a marvelous thing. He dispossessed the seven tribes of Canaan and planted the children of Israel in the promised land.
And when the psalmist heard the report, faith began to rise within him. If God had done such marvelous works for our fathers, what is it that He cannot do with us? If such a great work He had accomplished, the things with which we are involved are minute. Certainly, there is nothing that God cannot do.
Now, that is the way faith begins to rise up within our hearts. You know, dear brothers and sisters, do you remember—or have you heard—what God has done for you in the past? What God has done for us?
He has not only delivered us out of the power of darkness; He has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Do you not know that God has dispossessed our enemies and has planted us in the promised land?
Do you not know that we are in the promised land? We have been planted there. We are not squatters there; we are planted there by God. We are planted in Christ Jesus.
Christ is our promised land, and God has planted us in the promised land that we may enjoy all the riches that are in Christ. This is what God has done for us. This is divine history. This is something that we need to hear.
And if we are able to hear it afresh in the Spirit, how can faith not rise up within us? It is impossible. It is supernaturally natural for us to believe in God. To disbelieve is so unnatural; it is so difficult. It is but natural for us to believe Him.
What is it with which we are involved when you compare it with what God has already done in our lives—the great things He has done?
For not by their own sword did they get the land in possession,
Neither did their own arm save them;
But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance.
This great feat was not done by themselves. The children of Israel were few in number; they were weak. They could not dispossess their enemies by their own sword or with their own arm. No.
It was clear: it was the right hand of God, the arm of God, and the light of His countenance. In other words, it was God’s doing. And why did God do such a great work? Because Thou hadst delight in them.
There is no other reason. Because God had delight in them, therefore God did it. It was according to His good pleasure—the good pleasure of His will—that He brought us into Christ and planted us in Christ.
But it is true that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Yet faith is something more. When you really believe, it means that you make a commitment.
If you really believe, you surrender yourself to God. If you really believe, you give yourself to obey God.
That is the reason why, when faith begins to rise up in the heart of the psalmist, in verse 4 he says:
Thou art my King, O God:
Command deliverances for Jacob.
“I have heard what You have done in the past, and I believe it. I believe You are the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Therefore, I commit myself to You. I take You as my King.”
“You shall have full authority over my life. I am committed to You. I yield myself to You. I am going to obey You. You are my King.”
Now, brothers and sisters, the problem with some people today is that when they hear what the Lord has done in the past, they feel that they really believe in God, and yet there is no commitment. They do not commit themselves to God.
Now, if we do not commit ourselves to God, how can we expect God to commit Himself to us? Faith demands a commitment. Faith demands a surrender. Faith demands obedience. We have to take Him as our King.
If we take Him as our King, then our King shall rule over us and rule over all things for us. It is on the basis of that commitment and obedience that he asks God to command deliverance for Jacob.
The psalmist takes a position of faith. The psalmist declares his position of faith:
Through Thee will we push down our adversaries:
Through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
In other words, here you find this psalmist taking a position of faith. “I believe in God. He will save us. I will not put my confidence in myself.” This is a position of faith that we must take.
When he takes that position of faith and declares it, he says:
But Thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.
Notice the tense there. When he takes the position of faith and declares it, it becomes something that God has already done: “Thou hast saved us. Thou hast put them to shame.”
Now, of course, we know that when the psalmist declared this as a testimony, he was not actually delivered. He was not really delivered, but he believed it.
That is Mark 11:24:
All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.
In other words, if you have real faith from God, by faith you have already received what is yet to come to pass. You receive it by faith, and then you receive it in fact.
You know, the problem with us is that we want to receive it in fact before we receive it by faith. Now, if that is the case, this is no faith; this is sight. Faith is something that has not come to pass yet. In faith, it has already been done.
If you believe you have received it, then you shall receive it.
I remember a dear brother once said, “What is faith? Faith is not only believing that God can. God is able. Of course God is able; He is omnipotent.”
“Faith is not only believing that God is willing. Of course God is willing; He is love. Faith is believing that God has done it.”
Not only is He able, not only is He willing, but He has done it. And that is faith. Now you say, “How can that be?”
Why? Because faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. Faith substantiates. Faith makes real the unseen.
It is still unseen, and yet faith has seen it. Therefore, faith substantiates it before the substance is realized. Now, that is faith.
And because of that, he says:
In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto Thy name for ever.
He began to praise. Now, you cannot praise if you are still in the stage of begging. You start to praise when, by faith, you have apprehended what God has promised.
So we will call this the testimony of faith. Usually, to give a testimony, you have to experience it first before you can testify. But the testimony of faith is different. You testify before it comes because you know it is coming. It is a testimony of faith.
And then, do not forget that word, “Selah.” Now, that word “Selah” in Hebrew means, of course, a rest. You know, just like in music, you come to a place where there is a pause. You rest for a while.
Selah is a pause—not only that you may meditate upon it in quietness, but that you may gather up more strength to go on to that which is to follow.
In other words, you are going to rise to a higher note. So you need a pause and breath in order to prepare to sing a higher note. Now, that is Selah.
Brothers and sisters, do we know Selah in our lives? You know, sometimes in our individual lives we need a pause. We cannot be excited all the time. You cannot do that. Very soon you are exhausted, and then there will be a reaction.
When God begins working in your life, you come to a point where you need to rest. Selah. Pause. That you may gather more strength to strike a higher note.
We need Selah. And you know, sometimes in the worship time, I feel we need a little Selah. Not a long pause of death, of course not. But sometimes we need a Selah of life.
Oh, when the Lord is beginning to stir us up and beginning to show Himself to us, our hearts are so touched. It is a time that we should be quiet before the Lord, as if we need to gather more strength in order to strike a higher note.
Because if we continue on at that point, we would drop. How often you find it happening. We need some spiritual rest, of course. We need not go on and on and on, just like a horse rushing forward that cannot stop.
We need Selah because something higher is to follow.
And what is it? In the second part, you find the word “but.” Here the psalmist seems to be full of faith. Because he is so full of faith, he expects immediate deliverance.
Certainly, what else can he expect? He has already received it in faith, and he is waiting to receive it in fact. But the thing he expected does not come. On the contrary, the unexpected arrives.
But now Thou hast cast us off, and brought us to dishonor,
And goest not forth with our hosts.Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary;
And they that hate us take spoil for themselves.Thou hast made us like sheep appointed for food,
And hast scattered us among the nations.
In other words, you find the psalmist expecting deliverance from God—deliverance from enemies, from oppression, deliverance into that broad place that God has promised, deliverance into the riches of Christ. But instead, you find the situation becoming worse.
This is the testing.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not think that faith is so simple that because you believe, the minute you believe, in a split second, the thing happens according to what you believe. Sometimes it does, because God knows our frailty. But oftentimes, He does not.
Why? Because He wants to test our faith. He wants to draw out within us the faith that He has placed in us.
And you remember the word of Peter in 1 Peter 1:6-7:
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials,
That the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire,
May be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Because you have faith, therefore God puts you into the fiery furnace to prove that faith, so that faith may be more precious than gold, even if it is as though through fire. Yet it will be unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
This is the trial, the testing of faith.
You know, sometimes we have such—well, it is natural—there is a sense of heroism in us. Oh, we want to be spiritual heroes, and we try to work up our faith. “Oh, we have great faith in God, and because we have such faith, God has to do it right now.”
And if God does, who gets the glory? You do. There is no heroism in the spiritual realm.
Yes, when you believe in God and begin to testify of your faith in God, there is no heroism there. Because you testify of your faith, you will be put into fire. Your faith will be tried, tested, and proved until it comes out more precious than gold.
You remember the three friends of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar built a fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter, and these three friends testified to King Nebuchadnezzar:
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
That is the testing.
Thou sellest Thy people for nought,
And hast not increased Thy wealth by their price.
Oh, oftentimes it seems that God has sold us into the hands of our enemies, and we wonder whether God has made some increase by our price. You do sometimes feel that way when your faith is tested.
You feel that God has not gained anything by delivering us into the hands of the enemy. If God could increase His wealth, then maybe it would be worthwhile. But God does nothing to increase His wealth anymore.
On the contrary, you find that God’s name is being put to shame. Why should God allow such things to happen? The trial, the testing of faith.
The third part:
All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from Thy way.
Brothers and sisters, when our faith is being tested, many are crushed. Because our faith in God seems to fail to produce its expected, anticipated result, they turn against God. “God is not to be trusted. God is not there. God doth not care.”
But, dear brothers and sisters, when faith is tested, this is the time for the travail of faith. You have to prevail in travail.
Yes, it is like a woman who is in travail, who is going to give birth. She is going through the process of death in order that life may come forth.
Dear brothers and sisters, oftentimes we are not willing to pay the cost of prevailing. When things begin to be too hard, we give up and say, “God does not care. Why trust Him? There is no use. Let us turn our back.” And you get a spiritual abortion.
But when faith is tested, dear brothers and sisters, who is willing to prevail in faith?
Yes, the psalmist said, “Lord, in spite of the fact that it seems that things have gone worse rather than better, yet we have not turned against Thee. We are still keeping our faith in Thee. We are still loyal to Thee.”
Though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or spread forth our hands to a strange god,Will not God search this out?
For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
“You know. You know that we have not turned against You. We are still sticking with You. We still believe in You. Yes, we are travailing. We are going through a death process. It is because we believe in You. It is the travail of faith.”
And what does he say?
Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
You know, this verse is quoted in the New Testament. It is quoted in Romans 8:36:
Even as it is written,
For Thy sake we are killed all the day long;
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Here you find, just in the preceding verses, Paul declaring a great declaration. Paul gave a great testimony. He said:
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who is against us?He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?
It is God that justifieth;Who is He that condemneth?
It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead,
Who is at the right hand of God,
Who also maketh intercession for us.
Here you find a great testimony. Oh, God has given. Then it follows:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?Even as it is written,
For Thy sake we are killed all the day long;
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Dear brothers and sisters, after that great declaration of faith, you find faith being tried. Satan is out trying to separate us from the love of Christ—with tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword.
We are killed for His sake, for the Lord’s sake, all the day long, and reckoned as sheep for slaughter. That is the travail of faith.
Sometimes you feel you are like a sheep led to the place of slaughter. Why? Because you believe. You believe in God. “For Thy sake, for Thy sake.”
Dear brothers and sisters, that travail is not in vain. Why? Because immediately you find it follows:
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Through the travail of faith, they will come forth more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.
Then finally, the last part: the cry of faith.
Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off for ever.Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our body cleaveth unto the earth.Rise up for our help,
And redeem us for Thy lovingkindness’ sake.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, because the psalmist believed in God in spite of everything, he prevailed in faith. Out of that travail comes the prayer of faith. He can pray with boldness: “Arise, awake, O God, and deliver.”
Where does the boldness to approach the throne of grace come from? It comes through faithfulness. If you are faithful, you will have a holy boldness before God to ask for deliverance.
But the answer is not because you are faithful or because you have faith. It is because of God’s lovingkindness.
Dear brothers and sisters, no matter what you are, no matter how you believe, it is not because of you. It is because of the lovingkindness and the tender mercy of God that He answers your prayer.
So, dear brothers and sisters, here you find in this psalm that we are being taught the great lesson of faith. Psalm 44 is like Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11 is a great chapter on faith. Psalm 44 is a great psalm given for our instruction. May we all learn this great lesson. Shall we pray?
Holy Father, we do thank Thee for this psalm, which Thou hast given us for our instruction. Oh, we do ask, Lord, that Thy Holy Spirit will give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and lead us into this lesson.
We pray, O Lord, that we who have many ideas and opinions, and many concepts of what faith is, that Thou wilt deliver us from all our own ideas and concepts and lead us into faith—the truth of faith.
Oh, that we may be a people of faith, because Thou art the faithful God, the God of our faith, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Oh, we just look unto Thee, in the name of our Lord Jesus.