Psalm 44 - As Sheep to the Slaughter
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
Persecution is real.
Not only in ancient Israel did the children of Israel go through intense times of suffering but throughout Christianity especially in the dark ages – this Psalm has been used to bring comfort in the middle of Christian persecution.
Have you ever considered what it would be like to know you are going to be burned at the stake?
I remember reading Fox’s Book of Martyrs when I was a teenager, fascinated with the idea that people would give up their lives for Christ and then equally fascinated at their joy and peace in the middle of extreme torture.
Psalm 44 has six sections of thoughts…
Verses 1-3 show God’s victory for Israel in the days of Joshua
Verses 4-8 is where they are confident of God’s victory in their present circumstances in Israel
Verses 9-16 outlines the defeat of Israel, their crisis, and how the Lord’s hand was in it
Verses 17-19 is where the Psalmist reminds the Lord that Israel has been faithful to Him
Verses 20-22 shows that even in Israel’s obedience they are still defeated
Verses 23-26 is a final plea and prayer for help
Let’s start at the beginning.
“We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
The deeds You did in their days,
In days of old:” (verse 1)
I was struck here with how powerful just hearing about the exploits of the Lord are and how much they had affected the generations that had come after.
Want to build strength into the next generations?
Tell the story of God’s faithfulness to you.
Hearing of a story is not the same as experiencing the story – but this outlines for us the power of a story.
We need to be rehearsing and telling stories of how God has impacted our lives. We need to share those with our kids and our grandkids.
When I tell my testimony I always start with my dad’s testimony. Why? Because his story affected my story.
He was a depressed pastor who met God and got freedom and the impact of that caused me to get hungry for God and search for more than I was experiencing in my religious background. Sharing what God has done for you or your family is so powerful to others.
In verses 7 & 8 – they rehearsed what God did in the past and gave him praise for it.
“But You have saved us from our enemies,
And have put to shame those who hated us.
In God we boast all day long,
And praise Your name forever. Selah”
This produced praise in their hearts where they boasted and worshipped of the greatness of God.
Though the meaning of the word “Selah” is unknown – most interpret it to signify a distinct stopping place, a pause, a moment of silence – for us to stop and think about what we have just read.
I think it is extremely significant that they needed to pause and think about the goodness of the Lord before they went through times of trial.
Because here, they are feeling deep pain…. because, they feel they have been abandoned by God - whether that is the truth or not.
“If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (verses 20-22)
I can hear the pain in this song of what sounds like a belief that God has forsaken them but later in the Word of God the Apostle Paul brings this passage into focus for us.
Even when we FEEL like God has abandoned us or we might feel like He is punishing us – this is not the truth!
What can separate us from the love of Christ?
Remember this passage in Romans 8:35-37, here is the truth:
“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 Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Psalm 44 is seen by scholars as a declaration and petition to God for comfort and rescue in the middle of persecution. This Psalm has brought great comfort to martyrs and persecuted Christians for years and even more so as it was brought into context in Romans 8 – where the depth of the love of Christ is made clear for us even when we go through persecutions.
So often we look at things only from an American mindset. I am so guilty of that. We complain about our present sufferings, (and believe me – they are many), but we don’t look at the sufferings of other Christians in the third world - how many of them have been suffering and enduring persecution and sometimes death for decades.
Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.”
For many of us – this is the first time in our lifetime that we have experienced deep national crisis and pain and we look at it as if the world is turning upside down, but let’s remember history.
Let’s remember for a moment the Christians that were eaten by lions at the hands of the Romans, the Christians that were burned at the stake in the dark ages, the disciples who were beheaded and crucified because they followed Jesus and spoke of His resurrection. I know this sounds crazy – but may this give us comfort for our current situations.
God will not forsake us.
Remember the story of Stephen in Acts 7 – his faith during his death experience eventually brought Saul – whose name was turned to Paul – to his knees in surrender to Jesus – as he saw faith lived out.
Stephen saw the glory of God as he was speaking and saw Jesus STAND UP for him at the right hand of the Father. What faith! This is the power of God in demonstration – just as powerful as a healing and miracle - that a man could lay down his life in such a way with joy.
As we conclude our reflections on Psalm 44 – let’s remember this story of Stephen from Acts 7:54-60:
”When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter – but yet we can remember the faithfulness and the love of God. We can know in the end we will be the victorious ones.
God will not leave us alone.
Join us Monday mornings for our WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY
Does our Psalms Bible Study or the ministry as a whole bless you?
Would you consider partnering with us as a monthly donor to support the work of our nonprofit ministry? Or maybe a generous one-time donation?