March 2, 2015 – Monday

Start Time: 5:46 AM

End Time:  6:07 AM

Title: For the Director of Music.  Of the Sons of Korah.  A Maskil

Scripture: Psalm 44-:1 – 26

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ Psalm 44 looks like it was written by someone else and not David.  It says here that it was of the Sons of Korah – I’m unsure of this and could be wrong.  But the way the psalm is written, it was also like a different style than David.  First it spoke of "We" instead of "I", all of  David's psalms usually refers to a personal prayer.  This chapter however started as if the Psalm was written by many people. 

Verses 1 - 3, spoke of God's wonders but as a witness and not someone who experienced it themselves.  More like the descendants of those who witnessed God's greatness and power.  They spoke and believed every word they were told about God's amazing deliverance of their people and you can see it in the way they wrote in these 3 verses.  They insisted that the victories their people experienced in the past are made by the right arm of the King of Kings - the Lord God Almighty!

From verses 4 - 8, the writers switched from "we" to "I" and here we can see that as an individual, this person recognize his/her nothingness against his/her enemies but he/she acknowledges the great power of the Lord to whom he/she trusts and will gain victory from.  But note that by verse 8, the writer again used "we" when it comes to boasting God's praises all day long and forever.

Interestingly, the author of this psalm wrote that God has rejected them.  From verse 9 to 22, the writer spoke of how God has hidden Himself from them and no longer walks with them or fights with them in battles.  They are crushed because God has left them in the battlefield.  The funny thing is this writer thought that God hid Himself from them for no reason.  In verse 17, the writer said, all this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant.  Now doesn't this sound like they are innocent?  And that God hid Himself or stopped fighting with them for no reason at all?  Sounds like it but one thing is clear, God has a purpose and reason for everything but they are just unaware of it.  However, I want us to focus on the attitude of this writer or the people who has this same sentiment.  We already established that they are not aware of the reason why God left them but look at their attitude, verse 18 says, our hearts had not turned back, our feet had not strayed from your path...now that's what we call commitment and loyalty.  Despite of their feeling of abandonment at that time, they continued on with the calling God has called them to.  They did not abandon their posts but pushed on to pursue what they were called to do.  What a strong and brave soldiers.  Can we say the same thing for ourselves as the soldiers of Christ?  Are we able to commit and prove our loyalty to Jesus even when things don't go the way we want it?  When times feel like we are all alone or the Lord seems to be far away, are we able to continue on with the Lord's calling in our lives?  Are we able to hope and put our trust in Him despite of our feeling of His absence in our lives?  These are deep questions that we ought to be pondering about in our lives daily because the truth is, this shows our heart and this is how we live by faith!

Are we able to call upon the Lord and asks for His help in rescuing us in difficult times when we feel His absence in our lives?  Just as what these men did as written in verses 23 - 26? 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for a wonderful lesson.  Thank You for giving me a wide understanding that I may never see the whole plan You have for the world - not all the details though, but I can always put my trust and hope in You.  Help me Lord to live by faith on a daily basis and to cling on to You despite of whatever emotions or feelings I have for the moment.  Help me to realize that in my darkest times, especially in times when You feel so far or never around, it is the time when I must show great faith!  Help me Lord, build me daily to reach that level of maturity in my faith in You.  In Jesus' Name, Amen!