Latest / Reformed Thinking / Faith Under Fire: When God’s People Suffer Without Shame (Psalm 44) | Charles Spurgeon

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Faith Under Fire: When God’s People Suffer Without Shame (Psalm 44) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is where we take a deep
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dive into serious theological sources to give you the clarity
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and insight you need on the weightiest topics.
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Today we are opening up excerpts from Charles Spurgeon's
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celebrated work, The Treasury of David, specifically focusing on
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his exposition of Psalm 44. And this isn't just an academic
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exercise that this Psalm, it grapples with one of the most
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agonizing spiritual questions that any believer can face.
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It really does. Our mission here is to walk
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through how Spurgeon understood this text.
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You'll notice the title includes the word Mashil, which tells us
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it's designed specifically for teaching.
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And it's very unusual kind of teaching, isn't it?
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It expresses this, this absolute faith in this agonizing sorrow,
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almost in the same breath. Exactly.
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It's the voice of the church, the covenant people.
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During times of severe persecution.
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It gets at how ancient Israel and by how you, the Christian
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believer, can maintain fidelity when you feel completely
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abandoned by the sovereign God you trust.
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So to help us get our arms around it, we can follow
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Spurgeon's outline. He divides it into 4 main
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movements plus a kind of a critical pivot point.
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The whole thing is structured like a formal argument being
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presented before a king. Right, and any good argument
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starts by establishing your credentials, so to speak.
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So first we get the rehearsal of ancient works.
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That's verses one through 3. They're recalling God's
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undeniable mighty acts in history.
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Then they apply that history to their present moment.
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That's the strong expression of faith, and verses 4 through 8
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they declare God's sovereignty and their confidence in Him even
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when everything seems to be falling apart.
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And this is where the mood just plummets.
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Third, the tone darkens completely, and we get this
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wrenching complaint and distress in verses 9 through 16.
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This is really the heart of the lament.
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It's visceral. But before they make their final
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request, there's this necessary interlude, this assertion of
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fidelity. In verses 17 through 22, the
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people insist on their innocence, that they've kept the
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covenant, and that's critical for their final plea.
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And that final plea, the resolution, is the entreaty for
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interposition in verses 23 through 26.
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This is where we see where their hope truly rests.
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It's a It's a very tightly structured argument addressed to
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heaven. It is a powerful piece of
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writing all. Right, so let's unpack that
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opening movement with Spurgeon calls the glorious history of
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grace. Starting in Psalm 44, verses one
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through 3, the psalmist begins by anchoring his generation to
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the past with a simple, powerful line We have heard with our
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ears. Oh God.
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That phrase with our ears is so important.
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It points directly to how knowledge was passed down in the
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Covenant community. Spurgeon notes that this history
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wasn't just preserved by reading scrolls.
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It was oral tradition. It was oral tradition, our
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fathers have told us. And when you stop and think
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about that, the difference between reading some dry history
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book and having your own father recount A miraculous national
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deliverance, it's night and day. It makes the knowledge so
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personal. It really does.
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It highlights the vivid, personal and, you know, soul
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stirring nature of that transmission.
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Spurgeon suggests that what we hear with our ears affects us
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far more sensitively, more emotionally, than what we just
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read with our eyes. So this history wasn't meant to
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be some dusty old artifact. No, not at all.
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It was meant to be the vibrant, personal story of their family's
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very existence. Which puts a huge amount of
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responsibility on the previous generation, doesn't it?
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Spurgeon points out that godly fathers are the ideal
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instructors, that they're ordained by nature and grace to
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do this. Absolutely, he says.
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They shouldn't delegate this sacred duty to others.
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When that transmission is strong, history becomes a
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cheerful conversation. It's not some burdensome
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religious task. But he also paints the opposite
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picture, the contrast. He does a sharp melancholic
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contrast. Yeah, he talks about the
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lamentable state when fathers are, and this is his phrase,
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tongue tied religiously with their own children.
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And if that history of God's saving work isn't being shared,
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what fills that vacuum? Well, when fathers are silent
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about what God has done, Spurgeon asks, is it any wonder
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if their children's hearts remain sin tied?
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If the teaching focuses too much on just moral opinion or
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religious rules without grounding it in the hard
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historical facts of God's intervention, it just loses its
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power. The covenant history has to be
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rehearsed. It has to be so that the
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children see God's hand in all the events of the world.
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So what was the core of this history they were passing down?
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It wasn't just, you know, ancient trivia.
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It was what work thou didst. The focus is entirely on God's
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action. That is the crucial observation.
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The main thing being transmitted was the work of God.
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That, for Spurgeon, is the true core of history.
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He suggests that no one can write history rightly or teach
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it well if they are a stranger to the Lord's work.
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So they were taught to see God's footprints everywhere.
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Yes, to see his footprints on the sea of changing world
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events, to see him writing on the whirlwind of war, pestilence
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and famine, and to see through all of it, his unchanging care
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for his chosen people. And the Psalm immediately gives
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the most powerful case study of that work, the conquest of
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Canaan. This becomes the prime example
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of free sovereign grace in action.
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It's the ultimate Old Covenant example of salvation by grace
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alone. Spurgeon really drills down on
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the specific historical acts in that phrase.
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How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand.
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We know from other places in Scripture that this conquest
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wasn't purely military. Right.
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It involved miracles that happened even before the
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fighting started. Exactly, God sent a plague that
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eat up the inhabitants and he sent Hornets to to dispirit the
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enemy to erode their will to fight before Joshua's armies
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even showed up. So Joshua's victories weren't
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the cause of the Congress. No, they were merely the results
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of God's prior unseen work. This highlights a principle of
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secondary causality. Man acts, but God is the primary
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cause of the result. And this dual action of God,
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vengeance on one hand, mercy on the other, is a really sobering
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truth that runs all through the Old Testament.
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It is vengeance on the ungodly nations like the Amorites, who
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had filled up the measure of their iniquity, and at the same
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time this tremendous undeserved mercy for the chosen tribes of
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Israel. It illustrates something weighty
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about God's nature. It does.
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The greatness of divine love has its counterpart in the greatness
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of divine indignation and justice.
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Spurgeon makes a rather striking statement that hell is as deep
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as heaven as high. What's he getting out with that
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analogy? He's saying that God's might is
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fully shown in both his justice and his mercy.
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The same God who troubled his enemies with plagues is the one
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who smiled on his friends and caused Israel to flourish.
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You can't really appreciate the depth of grace shown to Israel
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unless you understand the justifiable wrath poured out on
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the nations that opposed them. So this whole historical
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rehearsal, it's not about national pride for Israel.
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It serves a single crucial purpose.
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It leaves directly into the core theological point the
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renunciation of self-reliance in verse 3.
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Right. And verse 3 is maybe the most
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critical verse in this whole opening section.
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It states it so emphatically. They got not the land in
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possession by their own sword. The valor, the strategy, the
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size of the army, it was all secondary.
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I mean, they did fight. They had swords and armies.
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They did, but their success was wholly due to the Lord.
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Spurgeon often points to the fall of Jericho's walls as the
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prime evidence, a dramatic display where human effort would
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have been totally futile without God's direct intervention.
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The soldiers were there, but the victory belonged to God alone.
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So the psalmist sets up this powerful negative right from the
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start. Neither did their own arms save
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them. It stops them from taking
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credit. It does.
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And this is a parable for salvation itself, isn't it?
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It's the very essence of what we in Reformed thinking call sola
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gracia grace alone. The whole passage is a beautiful
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model for the work of spiritual salvation.
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Well, we use prayer, we exercise repentance, we follow the
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ordinances, but none of those things save a man.
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Salvation is altogether of the Lord.
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Canaan was not conquered without the armies of Israel, but it was
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absolutely not conquered by them.
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Man is always, in every single case, just an instrument in the
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hand of the Conqueror. OK, so if it wasn't human
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strength, what was the source of the victory?
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The psalmist gives this trio thy right hand and thine arm, and
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the light of thy countenance. It's a beautiful way of putting
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it. First, the Divine hand was
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actively fighting for them. Second, the Divine arm was
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powerfully sustaining them. But maybe most beautifully, the
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divine smile, the light of thy countenance that inspired them
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with courage. That light of that countenance
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really speaks to the the emotional and spiritual fuel for
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the fight. Precisely.
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Spurgeon asks. Who could fail to win with that
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kind of help? The physical strength of the
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giants? The terror of iron Chariots?
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The number of enemies, None of it meant anything when Jehovah
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arose for Israel. His presence alone guaranteed
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success. And the single overriding reason
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for all of it? The ultimate cause, because thou
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has to favor unto them. And that is the absolute truth
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that undergirds all of covenant history.
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It is the fountain from which every stream of mercy flows.
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The Lord's delight in his people, His peculiar affection,
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His distinguishing regard, that's the mainspring of their
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history. It's all about election.
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It is. Israel was a chosen nation,
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which is why they had temporal victories.
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Believers are an elect people, which is why we have spiritual
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blessings and conquests. And if the source of success is
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just favor, that completely removes any room for boasting in
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ourselves. Completely.
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There was nothing in the people themselves, not their size,
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morality, or military skill that secured their success.
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The Lord's favor alone did it. This sovereign act is why our
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hope of final glory can't rest on anything in us, but solely on
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the free and sovereign favor of the Lord of hosts.
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This historical review sets the standard.
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God's action is the only source of hope.
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That principle, established by looking at the past, sets the
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stage perfectly for the second section, where the people move
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from history to declaring their present confidence in their
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king. It begins so powerfully in verse
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4. Thou art my King, O God.
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It's a personal declaration of homage.
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It links the speaker's own interest in God my King to his
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right to plead for the entire covenant people.
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After recounting those past miracles, the heart is just glad
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to own him as sovereign. Right.
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Who else would you turn to for ultimate aid?
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Exactly. And so their faith, you see,
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isn't shaken by their current problems because they remember
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who is in charge. And based on that allegiance,
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the declaration immediately turns into a prayer command
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deliverances for Jacob. Which is the responsibility of a
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king? It is a People look to their
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king to fight their battles, and in the case of our King Jehovah,
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a single word can do it. A simple command can free his
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people from any bondage. And why this shift to Jacob
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there specifically instead of Israel?
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Spurgeon sees Jacob as a type here, referring to the tried
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family of the faithful. Jacob's long life was, after
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all, you know, just crowded with trials and deliverances from
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Esau, from Laban, from famine. And from his own wrestling.
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And from his own spiritual wrestling, so his descendants
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are called by his name to show the similarity of their
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experience. The one who is personally
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assured that the Lord is their king should be the first to
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plead for the rest of the tribe family.
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This conviction of sovereignty then leads right into the
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expectation of victory in verse 5.
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Through thee will we push down our enemies.
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That metaphor speaks to the intense closeness of the
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spiritual fight. It's not about long range
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weapons like bows and arrows. This is hand to hand wrestling,
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pushing, tugging. It suggests a desperate struggle
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that requires immense personal effort that still relies on
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divine strength. It sounds like Jacob's wrestling
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match is being replayed in his Descendants.
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It has that same spiritual intensity, and the jubilant
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valor comes out in the second-half of the verse.
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Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against
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us. That imagery of treading under
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or pushing down, it sounds so confident, almost ecstatic.
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It does. The image, as some commentators
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see it, is taken from a strong ox tossing dogs into the air
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with its horn and then trampling them.
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It's a metaphor for buoyant, almost joyful courage.
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The Lord's name is their weapon. Exactly.
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It replaces the traditional horn or shield, and it enables them
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to leap on their foes and crush them.
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When Saints are in complete communion with God, they work
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wonders. But it's crucial that the Psalm
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keeps saying it's all through thee and through thy name.
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It keeps them from sliding back into that self-reliance they
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just announced. It is crucial we face a dual
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danger in the spiritual battle. On one hand, we can't go to war
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at our own charges, relying on our own wit or strength, or we
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will fail. But we also have to avoid the
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equally dangerous sin of distrust, believing God can't
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use us. Right, he can make the weakest
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believer equal to any emergency he.
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Can those who might fall on their own are by divine
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assistance made to utterly overthrow their foes?
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And this confidence leads to that definitive rejection of
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human memes in verses 6:00 and 7:00.
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I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
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This is a complete renunciation of all outward confidences,
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their abilities, their experience, their shrewdness,
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their wealth. Spurgeon highlights that the bow
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was a formidable weapon, yet here it is laid aside with the
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sword to make room for absolute singular faith in the living
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God. It sounds like a believer's
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catechism, a confession of faith.
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That's a great way to put it. It serves as the confession of
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faith for every believer who renounces their own
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righteousness and strength looking to Christ alone.
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Human nature is so apartment to fix its trust on the power of
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the creature, isn't it? We want to have a hand in our
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own rescue. We do, especially in our own
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sanctification. But the Psalm is clear.
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All rescues have been due to God alone.
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And verse 7 confirms this historical pattern.
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Thou has saved us from our enemies in the past.
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God always saved them and what's more, consounded their enemies.
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And confounding the enemies is part of the saving action.
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Thou has put them to shame that hated us.
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The enemy is defeated in a way that ensures they're ashamed to
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be overthrown by such puny adversaries.
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That is a consistent pattern in Scripture.
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A glorious 1 Pharaoh is drowned while Israel passes through.
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Amalek is smitten while the tribes rejoice.
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God blesses His people while simultaneously humiliating their
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enemies. This section then wraps up with
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this glorious response in verse 8.
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Laudable boasting in God we boast all the day long.
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And this is the only kind of boasting that is acceptable and
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pleasing to God, Spurgeon says. All other boasting is loathsome
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and sinful, except for this glorying in the Lord.
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They have abundant, continuous reason for praise when they
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recount His eternal love, His election, their redemption.
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A. Praise that should last all the
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day long. And right there we hit the
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sailor. That declaration of perpetual
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praise just stops cold. And that pause is critical.
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It marks a decisive shift in the emotional and spiritual climate
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of the Psalm. The sailor.
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Here is the transition from Miriam's timbrel, the sound of
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pure historical joy, to Rachel's weeping, the crushing sorrow of
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the present crisis. We move from what God did to
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what He seems to be doing now. A jarring shift.
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It really is. We move into Section 3, the
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desolation of apparent abandonment.
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Verses 9 through 16. They've just finished their
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glorious boasting, and immediately they say, But thou
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hast cast off and put us to shame.
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The contrast is deliberately shocking.
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The psalmist contrast the glorious past with the nation's
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agonizing present, and, crucially, they don't attribute
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the affliction to a failure of human courage or the accidents
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of war. No, they attribute it solely and
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alone to the withdrawal of Israel's God.
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That's it. The implication is if God had
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been with them, they would have won as they always had.
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It seems like Jehovah has grown weary of his people.
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That perception of abandonment, that feeling that God has walked
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away, is the entire cause of their complaint.
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Right now we know theologically that God will not castaway his
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people finally. But churches and individuals
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have been left to defeat and disgrace, and the evidence for
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this divine withdrawal is clear. God goeth not forth with our
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armies. And if the Lord isn't the field
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general, then the army is useless.
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Worse than useless, it becomes a source of ridicule.
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Vain are the combined efforts of the most zealous workers and
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cleverest strategists. If God's arm isn't revealed, if
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the great ally won't go with the church and its ministry, then
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defeat is simply inevitable. And the immediate consequence of
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that withdrawal is military defeat, which is then followed
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by what Spurgeon calls spoiliation.
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Spoilation after defeat comes plunder spiritually.
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We know what this is. When God leaves us to ourselves,
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even for a short time, Doubts and fears rush in like thieves
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and rob us of our comforts. Terrible foreboding spoil us of
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our hopes. The loss of assurance is the
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deepest kind of robbery. It is.
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No earthly calamity can equal the sorrow of feeling left by
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God, even if we believe it's for wise, sovereign purposes.
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And the imagery they use in verse 11 is just horrifyingly
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intimate. Thou has given us like sheep
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appointed for meat. They were slain and flocks with
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ease and frightening frequency. They were treated not with the
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dignity of a sacrifice, but with the cruelty of the shambles, the
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slaughterhouse, and they were scattered among the heathen, far
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from the temple and public worship.
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And throughout this entire section, the psalmist is tracing
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all of this sorrow directly to the hand of God, seeing it as
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being allowed and even appointed by him.
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Yes, that acknowledgement of God's sovereignty and suffering
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is characteristic of the Psalms, even in deep complaint.
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But the bitterest point of all, perhaps, is in verse 12.
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Thou sellest thy people for naughty.
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They weren't just conquered, they were given away like they
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were valueless. And the sting of it is
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aggravated by the second-half of the verse.
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And does not increase thy wealth by their price.
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They weren't sold for any strategic advantage.
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It appears that the Lord's name received no honor from their
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suffering. They were given away as if they
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weren't even worth the ordinary price of a slave.
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Which creates this feeling that their suffering is pointless.
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That feeling of futility is a grievous aggravation of misery,
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and Spurgeon actually steps in here in his commentary to offer
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some necessary comfort and theological balance.
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What comfort can there be when a people feel they're being sold
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for nothing? Spurgeon reminds the reader,
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though no revenue of visible glory is rendered to God now,
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and though the suffering seems futile, the Lord nonetheless
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accomplishes his own secret sovereign purposes.
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He assures us that our griefs are not without result, even if
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we can't see the gain right now. So we don't suffer for not.
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No, the final accounting will prove otherwise.
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The suffering then spills out into public scorn.
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In verses 13 through 16. They become a reproach to our
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neighbors, a scorn and a derision.
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And scorn is an intensely bitter ingredient in the cup of the
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oppressed, Spurgeon says. The tons of the victors often
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pain the vanquished as much as their swords.
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The peculiar people of God had become a common jest, A byword
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among the heathen. They had sung so low they were
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treated as infamous, despicable. They were the common butts of
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every fool's arrow. This is what the world offers
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it's true nobility. We see this principle fully
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played out when the world found a cross for the Master himself.
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The psalmist isn't just venting here, is he?
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No, He is setting for the brutality of the enemy in many
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words to move the pity of the Lord.
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It's an appeal that a father will not long endure to see his
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children spitefully mistreated. And the internal reaction
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matches the external disgrace. Poet cries out.
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My confusion is continually before me.
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The shame of the face has covered him completely is 1
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constant blush, and this blush is felt both before God and
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before man. Why before both?
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Before God because the divine desertion the mysterious felt
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deserved, leading to a sense of guilt.
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And before man, because they were despicable and powerless.
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Now that heavenly help was gone. Spurgeon saw this as a sign of
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National Health, that there were still men who truly made the
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people's case their own. And the situation gets even
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worse in verse 16, the enemy's offense escalates.
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It does. They move from simply mocking
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the people to reviling God Himself.
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They advance from persecution to outright blasphemy.
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The enemy boasted of avenging the defeats of their
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forefathers, those ancient victories at the Red Sea.
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They took revenge by insulting the now fallen people and more
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grievously by insulting the God who had apparently abandoned
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them. This puts the nation in a
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terrible spot. The honor of Jehovah's name is
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now at stake. Exactly.
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But this is the key. As the psalmist noted, it is not
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a hopeless case. If Israel looks to her God, no
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foe can retain her beneath his foot.
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But first they have to address the elephant in the room.
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Why is this happening if they have an apostatized?
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Which brings us to that pivotal 4th section, the assertion of
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fidelity in verses 17 to 22. Despite everything, the
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slaughter, the shame, the blasphemy, they assert their
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spiritual integrity. All this has come upon us, yet
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have we not forgotten thee? This is a powerful, startling
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counter argument directed toward Heaven.
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It challenges the assumption that they're suffering must be
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due to some recent national apostasy.
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True fidelity, Spurgeon observes, has to be able to
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withstand rough usage. So it's a kind of test.
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Those who follow God only for the good times will inevitably
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leave Him when persecution comes.
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But the sincere believer, the truly covenanted people, will
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not forget their God. Even though the worst come to
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the worst, they insist on genuine covenant adherence.
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Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
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What exactly does that claim mean?
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It means that no idol was set up publicly, the ordained worship
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was maintained, and God was still nationally acknowledged as
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the one true king. Spurgeon notes that the entire
21:54
Psalm is suitable for the lips of martyrs who suffer not for
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sin in general, but specifically for righteousness sake.
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So not for having forsaken the Lord, but for firing hard after
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him, yes. Such suffering is terrible,
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painful, but exceedingly honorable.
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And their fidelity wasn't just outward ritual, it was a
22:13
fidelity of the inner life. Verse 18 Our heart is not turned
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back, neither have our steps declined from thy way.
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This is the critical spiritual claim.
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Heart and life were agreed, and both were true to the Lord's
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way. They were free from willful,
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deliberate, nationally sanctioned transgression that
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would warrant this kind of abandonment.
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It shows that their affliction evidently came from a different
22:37
cause than outright apostasy. But this raises a serious
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theological question, especially from a Reformed perspective that
22:45
holds to total depravity. How can the psalmist speaking
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for the nation claim they haven't dealt falsely in the
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covenant? That is the essential tension.
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They are not claiming sinless perfection.
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That would indeed contradict the doctrine of total depravity and
22:59
the need for God's mercy. Rather, they are claiming
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sincerity of allegiance. So.
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They're saying in their distress is not a punishment for current
23:06
idolatry. Exactly.
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They haven't broken the covenant in the way their forefathers
23:10
often ended, by setting up high places or worshipping bales.
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This distinction is vital, they claim, sincerity which still
23:16
leaves them in desperate need of redemption, as the final verse
23:19
will confirm. Understood.
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But even with that sincere fidelity, verse 19 describes the
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severity of the trial with terrifying metaphors.
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Though thou hast sore brokenness in the place of Dragons.
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Place of Dragons refers to desolate, ruined places, often
23:34
where cruel, poisonous enemies like jackals or serpents haunt.
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Historically, the Church has interpreted this as reflecting
23:41
the seat of the greatest persecution, Pagan or papal
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persecution, the spiritual seat of Satan, the great red dragon.
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The environment itself is hostile and desolate.
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To be true to a smiting God, even when the blows have laid
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all our comforts and ruinous heaps, is the kind of character
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the Lord delights in. Spurgeon reminds us of a crucial
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principle. It is infinitely better to be
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broken by God, to suffer under his hand, than to be broken from
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God to yield to temptation and forsake the covenant.
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And the atmosphere, despair is made complete.
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God has covered us with the shadow of death.
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Identifies being completely enveloped in darkness and
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hopelessness. They are crushed, desolate,
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surrounded by mortal danger. Yet the glorious plea remains
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that they are still mindful of their God.
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Spurgeon concludes. Better death than false of
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faith. And their final defense against
24:28
any accusation of hidden sin is an appeal to omniscience.
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In verses 20 and 21. They hadn't forgotten God's
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name, nor had they stretched out our hands to a strange God.
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Stretching out the hands was the ancient universal symbol of
24:41
adoration and prayer, they assert.
24:44
They had not offered the sincere worship to any idol, even in
24:47
secret, And the rhetorical question that follows is
24:50
unanswerable. Shall not God search this out?
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Could such idolatry be concealed from him?
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The answer is immediately supplied, for He knoweth the
24:59
secrets of the heart. Right.
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God is intimately acquainted with the innermost workings of
25:04
the mind. Spurgeon notes the emphasis
25:06
here. Not just the heart, which is
25:08
already secret, but the secrets of the heart.
25:11
The most deeply hidden motivations are open to God,
25:14
like a book. The reasoning is clear.
25:15
Yes, the Lord Himself knows the people to be sincerely His
25:19
followers in this distress. Therefore, their affliction must
25:22
not be a visitation for national sin.
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This realization leads directly to the profound martyrs reason
25:27
for suffering in verse 22. Yay for thy sake.
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Assuredly, certainly, their trials came upon them not for
25:34
their offenses, but because they were loyal to their God.
25:37
Their difficulties arose precisely because they were
25:40
obeying Him and refusing to compromise with the Pagan
25:43
nations around them. They suffered because they would
25:46
not forsake their covenant God and King.
25:48
They were killed all the day long, meaning the persecution
25:51
never ceased and they were counted as sheep for the
25:54
slaughter. They were treated as if they
25:56
were made on purpose to be victims, as if it were an easy
25:59
and innocent thing to slay them. This is the agonized cry that
26:03
ascends to heaven from martyrs throughout history, from the
26:06
Waldenses in Piedmont to the Reformation martyrs at
26:09
Smithfield. They suffer because they are the
26:12
covenant people. This verse is so crucial that
26:14
the Apostle Paul quotes it in Romans 8.36.
26:18
But there's a really important difference in tone between the
26:20
psalmist here and Paul's use of the same text.
26:23
This contrast provides immense teaching for us.
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The psalmist here is lamenting that this affliction is terrible
26:29
and seemingly without just cause.
26:31
From their end, they feel abandoned despite their
26:34
fidelity. But Saint Paul, when he quotes
26:36
this verse, views the persecution not as an
26:39
incomprehensible tragedy, but as something conquerable and even
26:43
glorious. Paul can see the end result of
26:46
the suffering. Exactly.
26:48
Under the new covenant, Paul could rejoice in persecutions
26:51
and exclaim, Nay, in all these things we are more than
26:53
conquerors through him that loved us.
26:56
The outward experience is the same, being killed for Christ's
26:59
sake, but the theological interpretation and the resulting
27:01
posture are fundamentally different.
27:03
So the New Covenant believer has a fullness of assurance.
27:06
That's it. Knowing that nothing, not even
27:08
this ultimate suffering, can separate them from the love of
27:11
Christ. The psalmist is pleading from
27:13
the trial. Paul is exclaiming victory over
27:16
the trial. We transition now to Section 5,
27:19
the final cry for help and mercy in verses 23 through 26.
27:23
Despite their fidelity and despite the honor and their
27:26
suffering, the distress is too great and the people must plead
27:29
for intervention. They cry awake.
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Why sleepest thou, O Lord? This is a rhetorical request
27:35
born of deep spiritual distress. It reflects the human perception
27:39
of God's letter in action, not a theological truth.
27:42
Psalm 121 confirms He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor
27:47
sleep. So the psalmist puts it this way
27:48
because he can't explain the divine silence otherwise.
27:51
Exactly. They want to see the great Judge
27:53
ending their oppression, and they follow up with Wherefore
27:57
hidest thou thy face? It sounds like they're
27:59
authorized, even in the midst of this mystery, to question God's
28:02
perceived distance. This is not petulance or
28:05
rebellion, but a piteous inquiry.
28:07
We are permitted, even when God's dealings are mysterious,
28:10
to order our case with arguments and plead the right before God.
28:13
They are essentially asking, why, Lord, do you seem oblivious
28:16
to your children's woes when we are suffering for your name's
28:19
sake? This act of pleading is itself
28:21
an act of fidelity. The Psalm then quickly moves to
28:24
describe the agonizing depth of their misery.
28:27
In verse 25, our soul is bowed down to the dust.
28:31
When the heart sinks, the man is down.
28:34
Indeed heart sorrow is the heart of sorrow.
28:37
If the soul is bowed, the whole person is defeated, but they go
28:41
further. Our belly cleaveth unto the
28:44
earth. That sounds like a description
28:45
of being utterly flattened, incapable of getting up.
28:48
They're not just down, but fastened down, glued to the
28:51
ground by utter despondency. This physical description is a
28:55
powerful metaphor for the soul's inability to escape its own
28:58
dejection. And Spurgeon reminds us here
29:00
that even God's Saints may reach this low point, like Job in the
29:03
ashes or Lazarus at the gate. But the low point is not the end
29:07
of the story. Never.
29:08
Their day of deliverance is coming.
29:09
Their tide will turn. They shall have a brave summer
29:12
after their bitter spiritual winter.
29:14
They must be entirely broken before they can be completely
29:16
raised up. The Psalm then reaches its
29:18
simple, urgent final petition in verse 26, condensing everything
29:21
into two lines. Arise for our help.
29:24
That is the short, simple, urgent prayer for divine
29:27
intervention. But the true theological
29:30
conclusion rests in the final line, which is the ultimate
29:33
destination of the whole Psalm. And redeem us for thy mercy's
29:37
sake. This is the moment where the
29:39
claim of fidelity in verse 17 meets the absolute demand of
29:43
grace. Even after claiming they haven't
29:46
forgotten God, the final plea cannot and must not rest on
29:50
their own righteousness. That is the absolute beautiful
29:53
illustration of sovereign grace. Mercy is always the safest plea.
29:57
The plea is redemption, and the reason for that redemption is
30:00
God's sheer undeserved favor, His mercy.
30:03
So even if you were a martyr at the stake.
30:05
As Spurgeon concludes, if one were a martyr at the stake,
30:08
having lived a life of exceptional faithfulness, he
30:11
should still plead his Savior's name and treat a pardon for his
30:13
sake and urge no other claim than God's mercy.
30:16
The whole structure proves that even our best righteousness is
30:19
insufficient. The power of this Psalm ends not
30:21
with their complaint or their claim, but it ascends to heaven,
30:24
bringing down deliverance because of His mercy alone.
30:27
Amen to that. That was a tremendous deep dive
30:30
in Dispersion's handling of Psalm 44.
30:33
We've seen how absolutely necessary history is informing
30:37
our current faith by the traditions of God's past
30:39
workings, specifically his distinguishing regard.
30:43
And how true fidelity is evidenced not in ease, but in
30:47
affliction. The Saints declaration of
30:48
covenant adherence is astonishing.
30:51
Yet even then, the Covenant people always appeal to
30:53
sovereign mercy, not personal merit.
30:56
That is the consistent line of Reformed theological thought.
30:59
The structure itself is a teaching tool, moving from a
31:02
confident retrospective look at God's mighty actions in the past
31:06
to a desperate future focus plea based entirely on God's
31:09
unchanging nature, for thy mercy's sake.
31:12
Right. The traditions of our past
31:14
experience become powerful arguments and pleas for present
31:17
help. The church or the individual
31:19
believer may feel disgraced, treated as if sold for not.
31:23
But what stands out here is that Principal Spurgeon cited even
31:26
when no visible glory is rendered to him now, God
31:28
nonetheless accomplishes his own secret purposes.
31:31
And our griefs are not without result.
31:33
So what does this all mean for you, the listener today?
31:35
Well, consider this provocative thought in the midst of your
31:38
current difficulties, when you feel that the Lord has seemingly
31:40
withdrawn his face and your soul is bowed down to the dust.
31:43
What secret purpose might God be accomplishing through that
31:46
difficulty? Go forth and seek to see God's
31:49
hand in your circumstances, even when His face seems hidden,
31:53
knowing that your final certain plea for deliverance rests
31:56
entirely on His sovereign distinguishing favor alone.