Friday, July 24, 2020

Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever

Psalm 44:1-26
It was not by their sword that they won the landnor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.
But now you have rejected and humbled us you no longer go out with our armies. You have made us a byword among the nations;   the peoples shake their heads at us.
If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign godwould not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?
Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us foreverWhy do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?
This psalm is prompted by a disastrous defeat. Israel is bewildered. After all the stories of God's amazing actions in their early history and their complete reliance on him, now this! God had deserted them. They are disgraced and annoy understand why.
The witch to 'me' and  'my' in 4,6,15 may indicate a single voice leading the public prayer.
Why?
Psalmist though how great the Lord did for their ancestor,  They knew their victory was not by their sword, but by the hands of the Lord. But now, the Lord has turned away from them so their were under disgrace and scone of their enemies.
They pray to the Lord, for they trust in the Lord still listen to their prayer. If they had forgotten the name of the Lord, God knows it.
How?
Under distress or trouble is unhappy and sad, but when we turn to the Lord, we will know God is with us better than anything in the world.

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