Fifth Decade of Psalms

Introduction

The next psalm is a desperate plea for help from God. He is the God of their salvation, and yet He appears not to care. The citation of this psalm in the New Testament shows it to be the plea of righteous martyrs.

The Text
“We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us . . .” (Psalm 44:1-26).

Outline and Summary of the Text

This psalm comes to us in a parallel structure—in an a/a/b/b/c form. The unmatched conclusion, in this case “c,” represents the psalmist’s main point.

a. Our fathers trusted You for victory, O God, and You granted it (44:1-3);

a’. We trusted You for victory, O God, and You granted it (vv. 4-8 );

b. But now You have rejected us (vv. 9-16);
b’. Even though we have not rejected You (vv. 17-22);

c God, rise up and help us (vv. 24-27).

Our fathers have told us marvelous stories of God’s deliverances (vv. 1-2). They accomplished great things, but did not do it in their own autonomous power (v. 3). The psalmist declares his allegiance to God, and asks Him to “command deliverance” (v. 4). Through God’s might, they will prevail (v. 5). He will not trust in his own might, any more than his fathers did (v. 6). God has delivered His people within living memory (v. 7). God is the basis of the only kind of boasting that is not obnoxious (v. 8). But God has apparently abandoned His armies (v. 9). God has turned His warriors into cowards (v. 10). His people are slaughtered like sheep kept in pens for food (v. 11). God has sold His own people at garage sale prices (v. 12). All outsiders now mock God’s people (vv. 13-14). The psalmist is overwhelmed by confusion, not knowing how to answer the one who reproaches him (vv. 15-16).Then there is a surprising turn. Where we would expect a confession of sin, we find a protestation of innocence (vv. 17-18). God has broken them in the desolate places (v. 19). But if Israel had really sinned, would not the omniscient God know about it (vv. 20-21)? And yet they are killed all day long, and reckoned as sheep for slaughter (v. 22). God, why are You sleeping (v. 23). Why do You forget Your people (v. 24)? We are brought down to the dust (v. 25). Rise up, O God, and redeem us out of Your great mercy (v. 26).

All Scripture Together

One of the things we have to learn how to do is balance all Scripture together in our hearts and minds. When we focus on one passage, we must not do it at the expense of other passages. On top of this, we have to be mindful of which came first, what their relationship to the coming of Christ is, and whether or not the applications are physical or spiritual or both.

Paul quotes this psalm in Romans 8:36, and he establishes that the protestation of innocence by the psalmist here is genuine. This was not a case of the psalmist kidding himself about his righteousness. Romans sheds light on Psalm 44. In an analogous way, Psalm 44 sheds light on the conclusion of Romans 8.
The tone around this statement—true at face value in both places—is very different. That difference has to do with the times and with the coming of Christ.

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 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 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 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” (Rom. 8:31-39).

The faith that is implicit in the psalm becomes explicit in the mouth of Paul. We are more than conquerors through Christ, even though our experience is often identical to that of the psalmist. This is not the cry of a sinner under well-deserved chastisement, but rather the triumphant shout of the martyr.

Heard With Our Ears

We must be careful to tell our sons and daughters the great stories of God’s deliverance in the past. We must be sure that we tell them of His merciful deliverances that have occurred more recently. It is common in this desperate times for various error-mongers in our midst to say that we have to abandon dogmatic theology for a more “narratival” theology. The problem with these people is two-fold. First, they don’t understand how dogmas and convictions drive plots and, secondly, their idea of a really exciting story is a Sunday afternoon interfaith roundtable discussion on PBS—like watching paint dry. They talk about stories all the time, but they don’t ever tell any. To tell a real story, you need conflict, dogma, dragons, armies, a sky black with arrows, a protagonist, great battles, and victory at the end.

Secondary Means

“God is our deliverance” is not inconsistent with “lock and load.” In two places in this psalm we are told that military might did not win the victory, when in both places military might was used. God is ultimate and sovereign, and He is the one who blesses the means employed. In physical warfare, if He does not bless the armies, then they will be defeated. In spiritual warfare, if He does not honor and bless the means we employ, then those means will in fact be fruitless.

Boasting in the Lord

In both testaments, we are told that the one who boasts should boast in the Lord (v. 8; Ps. 34:2). The only manna that did not rot was the manna that was laid up before the Lord. The only boasting that does not rot is boasting in God’s great and almighty power. The one who glories must do so in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31).

Fifth Decade of Psalms

Introduction

The 43rd Psalm is very similar to the one before it, and in a handful of manuscripts it is even included together with it. But rather than consider it as a detached portion of the 42nd Psalm, it is a simpler explanation to consider this as a supplement, composed with the previous psalm in mind, expanding on the same themes.

The Text
“Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation . . .” (Psalm 43:1-5).

Summary of the Text

The psalmist cries out to God for judgment (v. 1). He is being attacked by an “ungodly nation,” and he seeks God’s vindication. Deliverance, when it comes, would be from the deceitful and unjust man (v. 1). God is the God of David’s strength, and David finds it inexplicable that God has cast him off (v. 2). Why does David have to go mourning because of the enemy’s oppression? He then prays that God would send out His light and His truth in order to lead David home, back to the worship of the true God (v. 3). When light and truth have done this, then David will approach the altar of God, unto God Himself as his joy, and David will not be able to contain the music (v. 4). The psalm concludes with David chiding himself, just as he had done in the previous psalm (v. 5). He then ends with the triumph of faith, knowing that he will in fact praise God, who is the health of his countenance and his God (v. 5).

Judge Me

We have commented before on the striking differences that arise when we compare the mentality of the psalmist with the mentality of many modern Christians. One of those differences is the eagerness with which the psalmist frequently seeks out and is hungry for God to judge him. The Christian who understands that all his righteousness is filthy rags is reluctant to say this, and quite understandably. But this kind of isolated judgment is not the only kind of judgment there is. And if it were, the psalmist knew as well as we do that we would all be in serious trouble. “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” (Ps. 130:3).

But there is another sense of judgment in Scripture—vindication, deliverance, justification. This cannot be understood apart from a distinction made between absolute righteousness (Godward), which no one has, and covenant righteousness (toward God and man), which all believers are called to display. When we cry out to God, asking Him to judge our cause, vindicating us “because of our righteousness,” this is what we are doing. Think of it as the difference between “being righteous” and “being in the right.”

As C.S. Lewis notes, “The difference is that the Christian pictures the case to be tried as a criminal case with himself in the dock; the Jew pictures it as a civil case with himself as the plaintiff” (p. 15). The Psalms are full of pleadings from plaintiffs, and this is something we must recover. This does not erase our awareness of our justification in that great criminal case, in which we were the guilty accused, but rather should heighten it.

Remember your great forgiveness in that criminal trial every time you enter a civil complaint—do not be like the wicked servant who was forgiven 10 million and then choked his fellow servant over a quarter—but do not remember your acquittal in such a way as renders you incapable of taking up your own cause ever. One definition of a liberal is one who is incapable of taking up his own side in a dispute. Don’t be like that. But neither should you be the kind of person that cannot conceive of ever having been at fault in any way. There are at least two senses of justification, and we must remember them both.

Twin Vipers

David needs to be delivered from the deceitful and unjust man (v. 1). Those two characteristics are twin vipers. Because he is unjust, he has no standard of justice to operate by other than his own self-interest, whatever that might happen to be. And because that is the case, and because lies are frequently a good way to get your way on the cheap, he is also deceitful. This makes every conflict lopsided. One disputant is constrained by a sense of justice and fair play, and the other is not. An amateur Olympic boxer has to fight in this way, and he is up against someone fighting by ultimate cage fighting standards. And because of this, the psalmist cries out to God, who is the one who will ultimately put all things to rights.

God of My Strength

God will certainly do this, even though it appears that He is uninterested in doing it now. God, You are my strength. Where did You go? This the same theme as the previous psalm, and it has the same resolution. David chides himself, talking to himself. “Why are you disquieted?” But again, the same as before, he turns to God in confidence—”for I shall yet praise him.” In the midst of great troubles, remember that you are the servant of a far greater God. And the greatness of God surpasses the greatness of your troubles in a way that overcomes the apparent distance of this great God.

Bring Me to the Altar

Just as in the previous psalm David longed to be in the great multitude, worshipping God in a very public way, so here he desires to come to God’s holy hill, His tabernacles. He wants to approach the altar of God, which is simply a way of saying he wants to approach God Himself, the God who is his exceeding joy (v. 4).

Great Deliverance is the Mother of Great Music

After David is brought to the altar of God, after he is successfully brought to God his exceeding joy, the result is music. “Upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God” (v. 4). The one who is forgiven little loves little (Luke 7:47). The one who is complacent has little to sing about. The one who is lethargic has little reason to break into song. God often brings us through great trials because it is the only way to produce magnificent music. He doesn’t want to bring us to heaven in such a way that we can only stand around and hum. For the wine to be made, the grapes must be crushed. For the songs of deliverance to come forth, the people must be afflicted first.

It is therefore no coincidence that periods of reformation and revival are periods marked by musical explosiveness. Paul tells the Colossians that the word of Christ should dwell in the them richly, and that they should then overflow in psalm, hymns and spiritual songs (Col. 3:16). The richness of the dwelling should line up with the richness of the fruit, and if the fruit is poor, then the spiritual experience producing it is poor. And that often happens because we are lukewarm, and have no intention of every getting into the kind of trouble that David used to get into.