If you have a Bible with you then please turn with me to the 44th Psalm and follow with me as we reflect together on the Word of God.
One of the striking features of the book of Psalms is their unsettling honesty.
Many of the Psalms, as you will know, are straightforward songs of praise, of adoration, of thanksgiving and of petition.
Some Psalms are memorable, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Or Psalm 46, God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble.
Many of the Psalms, the Psalms probably that we know best, are Psalms that speak to us of the greatness of God, the goodness of God, the unfailing faithfulness of God, the promises of God, the kindnesses of God.
But some of the Psalms express perplexity, fears, anguish, discouragements and even hostility and anger to God himself.
In this 44th Psalm, we find one of God's servants expressing his bewilderment with God.
He cannot fathom God.
God seems bizarre to him.
Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Verse 23, why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
God seems to have hidden himself and left his people at the mercy of their enemies who are God's enemies.
This is what puzzles the Psalmist.
And maybe that's where some of us are in our lives tonight.
You know what God has told you and told his church about himself in the Bible.
You know all about God's many great and precious promises.
But your experience contradicts your theology.
Your personal circumstances, your family circumstances or perhaps your church circumstances seem to mock God and his promises.
Where is God when you need him?
Now if that's not your experience tonight, or it's never been your experience,
and you're living in a fantasy world,
Psalms like this are inscripturated for us.
Not least to tell us that the believing life is not an even life.
The believing life, if I can use this metaphor,
the believing life is horticultural and not mechanical.
It doesn't proceed by even forward processes that are unhindered.
It's horticultural.
There are times of progress, but then there appears to be stagnation and even regression.
The cold, bitter winds of opposition form.
Life becomes hard.
And this is the reality here.
Life has become hard.
The experience of God's people contradicts their theology.
They would be the first to confess that the Lord is God.
That there is no other beside him.
That he is the living one.
From everlasting to everlasting, the Yahweh, the I am.
They would be the first to say the Lord is rich in mercy, slow to anger, abounding in covenant love.
They could confess it with their lips.
But their hearts and their lives are screaming.
But where are you?
Where are you?
Why are you sleeping?
Oh Lord.
What I want you to notice, just as we begin to consider the psalm as a whole,
is to notice that the psalmist's perplexity did not drive him to despair, but to prayer.
He brought his perplexity, his bewilderment, even his, and I think it might be true to say this,
his anger with God, he brought it to the Lord in prayer.
He didn't sublimate it.
He didn't pretend that all is well.
He didn't think, well, let me just place my circumstances to the side because this is the Lord.
He is deeply honest, unsettlingly honest with God, but he brings it to God in prayer.
And he unburdens his heart and soul before the Lord.
You have behind me and above me an outline of the psalm.
I thought it might be helpful.
I wasn't sure many of you would be overly familiar with the 44th psalm.
And hopefully that will be helpful as we think through.
Briefly touching on the first section and spending more time on verses 9 to the end, verse 26.
Notice, first of all, the spiritual continuity of genuine faith.
And this really is the first eight verses of the psalm.
Look how the psalm begins.
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.
And he begins to recite what the fathers had told their children of the mighty acts of God in history.
And he in particular is thinking, you'll notice from the language, about the mighty acts of God at the time of the Exodus.
And the planting of the people of God, God's covenant people, in the land of promise.
With your own hand you drove out the nation.
Remember the seven nations who occupied the land of promise.
But then, that is your people you planted.
You afflicted the peoples.
But then, your own people you set free.
For not by their own sword did they win the land.
Our fathers have told us this, that they didn't gain these victories by their own ingenuity, by their plans, and by their power, and by their might, and by their weaponry.
It was your right hand and your arm and the light of your face.
For you delighted in them.
Our fathers have told us.
You are my king, O God, ordained salvation for Jacob.
Through you we push down our foes.
Through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
For not in my bow do I trust.
Nor can my sword save me.
But you have, in the past, saved us from our foes.
You have put to shame those who hate us.
In God we have boasted continually.
And if the psalm ended there, we go away happy.
But, verse 9 begins.
But notice just briefly the spiritual continuity of genuine faith.
Here is someone who is saying, Lord, I know you are great.
I know you are powerful.
I know you are the God who is for your people.
Our fathers have told us.
I love that phrase.
Years ago in Cambridge I was speaking to the children.
I would usually speak to them in the morning preparing them for the sermon.
I was speaking that Sunday morning on the inspiration and sufficiency of Holy Scripture.
And I said to the children, how do we know the Bible is the word of God?
Little Hannah Knight puts her hand up.
I said, Hannah, my daddy told me.
And everyone laughed.
Except me.
I said, that's a wonderful answer.
That's a glorious answer.
And then I said, but how did your daddy know?
What the writer is saying, Lord, the theology I have concerning you,
the truth I know about you, I have because of the faithfulness of our fathers.
He's highlighting the spiritual continuity of faith.
He's not speaking about borrowed faith.
He is speaking about the covenantal responsibility that fathers in particular have to tell their children about the Lord.
Their fathers told them.
Now church history can be a wonderful source of encouragement.
I think fathers and mothers should be telling their children,
let me tell you about what God has done throughout the ages after the close of the canon of Scripture.
How God raised up men like Irenaeus of Leon and Athanasius of Alexandria.
And then you've got Augustine of Hippo.
And you go right through the history.
Anselm of Canterbury.
You come to Luther and Calvin.
And then the Puritans and Jonathan Edwards and the mighty acts of God in the 19th century.
Charles Spurgeon and our children hear about what God hath wrought.
And our children discover that God is great.
That God is powerful.
That God is glorious.
That God is for his people.
But then comes a difficulty.
Daddy, you've told me all about what God did then.
1859, 1906 in Wales.
1948 in the island of Lewes.
But what about today?
What about now?
And so after he highlights the covenantal continuity of faith,
the spiritual continuity of faith,
he comes to the heart of the psalm.
The first eight verses are not the psalmist expressing simply his evangelical credentials.
He is really saying,
Lord, I know there is none like unto you.
I know that.
Your mighty acts in history that my fathers, our fathers have told us of.
Shout that out.
But you have rejected us and disgraced us.
And so from verse 9 to 22,
he speaks about the inevitable perplexity of genuine faith.
He compares the past history with the present tragic state of God's people.
And what perplexes the psalmist,
what anguishes the psalmist,
you can't miss surely the anguish of the language of the psalmist,
is the contradiction between what God did then and what he is not doing now.
Where is God when you need him?
You cannot but be struck by the searing honesty of the psalmist.
Verse 10,
You have made us to turn back from the foe.
Verse 11,
You have made us like sheep for slaughter,
scattered us among the nations.
It's possible,
we're not told,
but it's possible that the psalm is written during the Babylonian captivity,
middle years of the 6th century before Christ.
You've sold your people for a trifle.
You've made us the taunt of our neighbours.
People look at us and laugh.
That's the church of God,
of Yahweh,
Yahweh,
the living one,
who is neither beginning of days nor end of life.
That bedraggled remnant
is the people of God.
You've made us a taunt to our neighbours,
derision and scorn for those around us.
We're filled with shame and disgrace,
saying,
You have made us a byword among the nations.
In other words,
there is public shame and humiliation
to belonging to the covenant people of God.
All day long,
my disgrace is before me.
Shame has covered my face
at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
He is searingly honest with God.
He is acknowledging and recognising
the sovereignty of God.
He knows that God isn't a bit player.
He knows that God is not peripheral to history.
He knows that the hand that ultimately shapes,
determines and styles and progresses history
is the hand of the covenant God of Israel.
He knows that.
And it's that divine sovereignty
that leaves him gasping with anguish and bewilderment.
But that anguish and bewilderment
is inevitable.
It belongs to the very nature
of faith
in a fallen world.
because we are not God.
Because his ways are higher than our ways.
His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Because we see through a glass darkly.
Because we see partially.
We can't even see around the corner.
Never mind what lies ahead
in the coming week.
Because we see only the reverse side
of the tapestry
with its tangled mints.
and not the side that God is seeing
weaving perfectly
his perfect design
and sovereign will
that is an inevitability
to perplexity
and anguish
in the life of faith.
We can't escape it.
We might want to escape it.
But we can't escape it.
We have to learn to live with it.
This is part of the tension
of being believers
in a yet fallen world
with yet
corruptible bodies
where sin
yet indwells us.
He's perplexed with God.
But he's honest
in his perplexity.
And it's accented
you notice in verse 17
all this has come upon us
though we've not forgotten you.
We've not been false
to your covenant.
Maybe you're thinking
ah he's overstating
the case here.
No he's not.
He's not saying
we're sinless.
He's saying
Lord
we've not forgotten you
but you seem
to have forgotten us.
We've not been false
to your covenant.
Again let me say
he's not saying
we're sinless.
He's saying
Lord
we have been true
to you.
That's why we can't
really understand
why all this
has happened.
Then in verses
23 to 26
we notice
the familial boldness
of genuine faith.
Awake.
Why are you sleeping
oh Lord?
Rouse yourself.
Do not
reject us
forever.
The first imperative
comes with a shock.
He's commanding God
to awake.
He's not saying
Lord
will you
please
come to me
and
help me
to perhaps
understand
why this has happened
and why you're doing
what you're doing
or not doing
what you're not doing.
He says
awake.
There are four
imperatives
four commands.
Awake.
Stop sleeping
on the job.
Rouse yourself.
Do not
reject us
forever.
That's the
familial boldness
of authentic
genuine faith.
remember in the
in the boat
our Lord Jesus
is crossing
Galilee
and a storm
breaks out
and
he's asleep
in the stern
of the boat
and the disciples
come
terrified
by the wind
and the wind
they were seasoned
fishermen
but they were
terrified
and they say
wake
Lord
do you not
care
that we're
in danger
of perishing?
You see
there are times
when it seems
as if God
has
gone away
and what
you have here
is this
familial
boldness
of genuine
faith.
You find the same
thing
in the book
of Habakkuk
chapter 1
O Lord
how long
shall I cry
for help
and you will
not hear
or cry to you
violence
and you will
not save
why do you
make me see
iniquity?
Why do you
idly
look at
wrong?
Destruction
and violence
are before me
the law
is paralysed
justice
never goes
forth
the wicked
surround
the righteous
justice
has been
perverted
and you're
asleep
in the
job
you're idle
you're passive
you're inert
I wonder
if you've
ever
been
that bold
with God
maybe you're
thinking
well
this was
out of
place
this was
just a step
too far
this was
really
not how
a creature
speaks to
the creator
this is
not how
a redeemed
forgiven
sinner
speaks to
the one
who at
infinite cost
has
redeemed
them
why do you
think it's
in the
Bible
in part
it's to
confront us
with the
anguished
nature of
genuine
faith
I think
sometimes
we still
believe
the lie
of the
serpent
that if
we were
really
men and
women of
faith
boys and
girls of
faith
we would
always be
trusting the
Lord
a smile
would always
be in our
faces
life with its
hardships we would
take in our
stride
difficulties would
come and we would
just sail through
them
people would
say how has
your week been
praise the
Lord
it's been
glorious
and you're
thinking
are you
serious
how kind
the Lord
is to
give us
psalms like
psalm 44
to show us
that even
the pen
men of
God
the pen
men of
God
those men
raised up
by God
to pen
the Holy
Scripture
could be so
searingly
honest
with God
awake
why are you
sleeping
oh Lord
rouse
yourself
do not
reject us
forever
be real
with God
be honest
with the
Lord
but then
fourthly
and this
really is
the burden
of my
heart
this evening
notice the
supportive
theology
of genuine
faith
the psalmist
almost without
knowing it
gives two
clues
that first
help to
explain the
churches
and his
desperate
perplexity
and second
that help
believers
to stand
firm
and not
turn
back
number
one
notice
what he
says
in verse
22
yet
for your
sake
we are
killed
all the
day long
we are
regarded
as sheep
to be
slaughtered
now Paul
quotes those
words
you will
know that
in Romans
8 verse
36
in the
middle of
that
glorious
chapter
where he
expounds
for us
the
privileges
and blessings
that belong
to those
for whom
there is no
longer any
condemnation
because they
are in
Christ Jesus
he speaks
of the
blessed
ministry
of the
Holy Spirit
he speaks
of God's
electing
purpose
he speaks
of God
being for
his people
and not
against them
he speaks
of God
not sparing
his own
son
but delivering
him up
for us
all
how will
he not
then with
him freely
give us
all things
he speaks
of Christ
being at
the right
hand
of the
majesty
on high
interceding
for us
and then in
the midst
of that
he says
ah
let me
quote to
you these
words
he doesn't
say that
Psalm 44
yet for
your sake
we are
being killed
all the
day long
we are
regarded as
sheep to
be slaughtered
and when
you read
through
Romans chapter
8
you are
struck by
this
surprising
turn
in the
flow
of
the
blessings
that the
apostle Paul
is expounding
and explicating
and you think
well why is it
there
why is it
there
it was there
to tell
these Christians
in Rome
that what
they were
suffering
was not
God's
punishment
but battle
scars
for the
saviour's
sake
and that's
what the
psalmist
doesn't yet
get in
the
the hinterland
of redemptive
history
he sees
but dimly
in
shadow lands
if you like
yet for
your sake
we are killed
all the
day long
why has all
this come
upon us
he's actually
told us
for your
sake
the church's
trials and
sufferings
were battle
scars
they were
not signs
of God's
anger
or punishment
they were
battle
scars
in the
cause
of the
kingdom
of God
in this
world
you see
the subtext
of Psalm
44
is
Genesis
3
what Paul
was speaking
to the
children
about
that
divinely
instituted
cosmic
conflict
between
the seed
of the
serpent
and the
seed
of women
now there
are times
of course
when the
trials of
the church
is the
result of
unbelief
and disobedience
and rebellion
and faithlessness
but there
are times
when it's
because
we are
standing
against the
world
the flesh
and the
devil
and all
hell
is being
let loose
upon us
I wonder
how many
people
looking at
Job
would have
concluded
this
there is
a righteous
godly
man
not many
I would
think
not many
when God
unites you
to his
son
he
initiates
you
in union
with him
into a
cosmic
conflict
and we
need to
reckon
with the
reality
of the
devil
our
warfare
is not
with flesh
and blood
ultimately
but with
principalities
and powers
with the
hosts of
wickedness
in the
heavenly
places
for your
sake
we're killed
all the
day long
you almost
feel the
Lord
would want
to pause
the psalmist
and say
do you
get it
do you
get it
even out
of your
own lips
why this
has come
upon you
you are
sharing
in an
anticipatory
prototypical
way
in the
sufferings
of your
saviour
the
promised
messiah
Jesus
Christ
but then
secondly
do you
notice
the
psalmist
ends
his
complaint
with a
confession
of faith
he finishes
the psalm
rise up
come to
our help
redeem us
for the
sake of
your
chesed
not latin
but hebrew
chesed
your covenant
love
your unfailing
pledged
in blood
covenant
love
where does
he ultimately
rest his
hope
in the
chesed
of yahweh
in the
covenant
love
and in the
covenant
faithfulness
of god
and what
those closing
words say
to us
is that
in the
deepest
extremities
of our
lives
personal
extremities
familial
extremities
congregational
extremities
we are to
rest the
weight of
all that
we are
on the
character
of god
and on
the grace
of god
as he has
pledged it
to us
in his
covenant
love
in jesus
christ
you see
this
ultimately
is the
triumph
of faith
not that
life is
easy
and sweet
and uncomplicated
and unhindered
and even
but that
we say
lord
in the
midst of
all the
perplexities
and bewilderments
and trials
and troubles
i want to
tell you
this
my hope
rests
on your
steadfast
love
on your
pledged
and promised
covenantal
secured
love
that's
where my
hope
rests
i can still
remember
the day
i think
i was about
23 years
of age
but i remember
the day
i was preparing
a bible study
for a
house group
in
falkirk
in central
scotland
i was a
student at
edinburgh
university
studying
theology
i'd been
asked to
go along
and the
passage
i'd been
given
was the
second half
of romans
chapter 4
and i have
a default
when i'm
preparing
john calvin
is my
default
calvin says
it must be
right
well i don't
mean that
but i always
go to
he's my
go to
and i
remember
yet
reading
these
words
calvin
is commenting
on the
faith
of
abraham
god
had
promised
abraham
a son
and an
heir
who would
be the
one
in whom
the covenant
promises
of god
would continue
but the
years
passed
no heir
or son
appeared
and paul
says
against
hope
abraham
believed
in hope
he trusted
god
and then
calvin
wrote
these
words
thinking of
abraham
as the
years
passed
when his
circumstances
seemed to
contradict
god's
promise
calvin
wrote
all things
around us
are in
opposition
to the
promises
of god
he promises
immortality
we're
surrounded
with
mortality
and corruption
he declares
that he
counts as
just
we're
covered
with
sins
he
testifies
that he
is
propitious
and kind
to us
outward
judgments
threaten
his wrath
what
then
is to
be done
calvin
asks
we
must
with
closed
eyes
pass
by
ourselves
and
all
things
connected
with
us
that
nothing
may
hinder
or
prevent
us
from
believing
that
god
is
true
!
I've
never
forgotten
those
words
they
were
electric
to me
when I
first
read
them
you know
what he's
simply
saying
not
bury
your
head
in the
sand
but
he's
saying
when
your
circumstances
seem
to
mock
god
and
his
promises
place
them
alongside
who
god
is
you
see
that's
what
our
lord
jesus
christ
did
when
he
endured
the
desolation
and
curse
of
the
cross
he
is
the
prototypical
man
of
faith
and
yet
perfect
man
of
faith
as
he
was
his
life
was
engulfed
with
darkness
he
is
the
one
ultimately
that
Isaiah
50
verse
10
points
to
when
it
says
that
when
we
walk
in
darkness
and
have
no
light
I
don't
know
what
that
means
I
occasionally
know
what it
is to
walk
in
darkness
but
to
have
no
light
no
pinprick
of
light
I
remember
a friend
of mine
once
saying
to me
he
envied
the
lampposts
of
Glasgow
because
they
had
light
he
felt
darkness
just
shrouded
him
and
it
was
for
our
saviour
darkness
enshrouded
him
engulfed
!
And
he
said
why
have
you
forsaken
me
but
he
said
more
than
that
didn't
he
said
my
God
my
God
why
have
you
forsaken
me
the
sense
of the
fatherhood
of God
had been
eclipsed
but not
the
personal
pronoun
was it
Martin
Luther
who
said
genuine
Christianity
is all
about
personal
pronouns
you
see
you
and I
have a
saviour
who
knows
by
personal
experience
spiritual
darkness
we
have a
saviour
who
knows
from
experience
the
deep
sense
of the
absence
of the
presence
of God
we
have a
saviour
for whom
all the
lights
went out
there
wasn't
a
pinprick
of
comfort
in
the
cosmos
not
a
pinprick
but I
want to
say
this
even
as
the
face
of the
father
of
Jesus
Christ
was
hidden
from
him
even
as
the
righteous
wrath
of
God
was
being
poured
out
upon
him
I
have
little
doubt
that
the
father
was
saying
to
the
hosts
of
heaven
and to
his
son
if
ever
I
loved
thee
my
Jesus
tis
now
for
even
in the
cross
as the
darkness
engulfed him
he
never
let
go
the
my
God
if
ever
I
love
thee
my
Jesus
tis
now
the
life of
faith
in
Jesus
Christ
is a
life
of
perplexity
sometimes
the
perplexities
are
few
and
slight
sometimes
they
are
many
and
engulfing
and
the
psalm
ends
with
no
answer
did
you
notice
that
there's
no
quick
fix
at
the
end
oh
let
me
tell
you
psalmist
let
me
tell
you
actually
I'm
about
this
and
I'm
about
that
you
get
that
in
the
book
of
Habakkuk
in a
sense
where
the
prophet
begins
!
by
saying
Lord
rouse
yourself
wake
up
why
have you
deserted
us
and forgotten
us
and the
Lord
somewhat
explains
his ways
with his
servant
but not
here
not
here
sometimes
there are
no answers
this side
of glory
sometimes
we'll have
to wait
for the
answers
but we
wait
in faith
maybe
with many
tears
maybe
with
Satan
subtly
!
insinuating
into our
minds and
hearts
curse
God
and die
do you
think he
cares
look
what's
happened
to you
look
at your
hopes
that are
smashed
curse
God
and die
just
forget
him
Lord
redeem
us
according
to your
covenant
love
that's
where faith
places its
anchor
you see
the great
thing about
faith is
not its
quality
but its
object
the reformers
were always
using two
little words
to highlight
what true
faith is
extra
nos
you better
laugh
to finish
it's
outside
of ourselves
the glory
of faith
is not
its
quality
because
the quality
of faith
rises
it falls
it comes
and it
goes
one day
you could
climb a
mountain
and leap
a wall
and the next
day you can
hardly get
out of bed
but the glory
of faith
is not
its quality
but its
object
Jesus
Christ
who knows
what darkness
is
and who is
at the right
hand of God
interceding
forms
so
be of
good cheer
be of
good cheer
God
loves you
he will
never
deserve
you
you may
yet
have to
die
many
deaths
!
please God
they will
all be
for Jesus
sake
let us
pray
father we
bless you
tonight
that our
salvation
even our
very lives
is hid
with Christ
in God
we thank you
Lord
that
troubles
may disturb
us
harm us
hurt us
even at
times
overwhelm
us
that they
can never
separate us
from your
love
we want
to be
better than
we are
we want
to trust
you
Lord
even in
our
tears
because you
are the
God who
spared not
your only
son
but delivered
him up
for us
all
bless this
congregation
for good
Lord
enrich their
life
together
bless above
and beyond
all
his
and the
congregations
asking
Paul's
ministry
may those
who serve
and labour
with him
do so
in humility
in concord
bless this
congregation
Lord
enrich it
with your
presence
and the
empowering
ministry of
the Holy
Spirit
and we
ask it in
our
Savior
Jesus
Christ
name
Amen