Psalm 44--Come to Our Help

Psalm 44
English Standard Version

Come to Our Help
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
    our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
    in the days of old:
2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,
    but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
    but them you set free;
3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
    and the light of your face,
    for you delighted in them.

4 You are my King, O God;
    ordain salvation for Jacob!
5 Through you we push down our foes;
    through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For not in my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
    and have put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us
    and have not gone out with our armies.
10 You have made us turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter
    and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and scorn of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
    a laughingstock among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and shame has covered my face
16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our steps departed from your way;
19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
    and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God discover this?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

​23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
24 Why do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
26 Rise up; come to our help!
    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

---

This song was specifically written for the sons of Korah, who were the musicians and singers at the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, meaning this was a song likely meant for corporate worship.  You'll notice that everything is written in first person plural as the congregation sings these words with one voice.  The theme of this song is similar to the hymn, "O God Our Help in Ages Past", the Michael W. Smith song, "Do It Again", and can be summarized well with Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."  He was the hope and salvation of Israel when they were brought of Egypt--their True and Better Passover Lamb, He was, is and will always be their Redeemer and Saviour.  They join with one voice crying out "Save Us, O LORD!" "Hosannah!"  Thise was their cry on Palm Sunday as well, but they were once again looking for salvation from a political adversary instead of the enemies of sin, flesh, death hell, and the devil and his angels.  The song seems to be to come in four parts.

1. Verses 1-8:  The people remember all the ways the LORD helped their ancestors.
2. Verses 9-16:  The people don't see God working like this anymore and list their grievances for what appears to be Him breaking covenant with them.
3. Verses 17-22:  The people affirm they have not broken covenant and claim they have done nothing to deserve this.
4. Verses 23-26:  The people cry out to the LORD to act once again to save them because He is their Redeemer and Saviour, and they know of His "steadfast love" (a very important word in the book of Psalms and in the book of Ruth among other places in the Old Testament).  We'll specifically talk about His steadfast love in Psalm 100, 118, and 136 when we get there as these three songs are entirely dedicated to that topic.

We don't see light at the end of the tunnel.  The Psalm does not end saying, "We cried out to You, and you once again delivered us."  No, we are left with the people waiting on the LORD to act.  We know that God did hear them, and that He will act, but will He act in the way and in the timeframe in which they expect?  Will they continue to have faith through these trying times?  Will the people abandon God when they feel like God has abandoned them?  We know some of the answers to those questions from a reading of the rest of the Old Testament.  God will wait long periods of time and then act suddenly to save His people.  The people many times will get tired of waiting and will become more and more like the pagan nations around them--worshiping their gods and eventually being exiled from the Land of Promise.  Yet God is faithful, and He brought them back and He sent Jesus, the Son of God, to be the answer to this prayer--He is our Savior and our Redeemer.