Psalm 44

In God we make our boast all day long,
And we will praise Your name forever;
But now you have rejected us and humbled us;
You no longer go out with our armies.
You made us retreat before the enemy,
And our adversaries have plundered us.
You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
And have scattered us among the nations.

Sometimes the Lord takes away. Sometimes we just don’t have enough money to pay the bills. Sometimes the ones we love scorn us. Sometimes we are given up to be devoured like sheep. Why would a loving God do this? Had David some secret sin when he wrote this Psalm, causing God’s wrath to come upon him?

All this happened to us,
Though we had not forgotten You, or been false to Your covenant.
Our hearts had not turned back;
Our feet had not strayed from Your path.
But You crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
And covered us over with deep darkness.

Do you feel that you have been wronged by God at some point in your life, or even right now? Are you being covered by deep darkness, wondering why God hasn’t protected you? These are the things David is going through, and we read that he had been faithful to God and had not strayed. So why did God do this? Was he being unfair? The truth is that if God were solely fair and just, He never would have cast us out of the Garden of Eden. He would have let us rot and die forever in our sin, departing from us forever. He would have never pursued us. But He is also Love; and just as a father doesn’t always give his son what he wants, he gives him understanding through the darkness – not out of spite but out of love. David is brought low, that he might not forget his place under God’s feet. He finishes up the Psalm:

We are brought down to the dust;
Our bodies cling to the ground.
Rise up and help us;
Redeem us because of your unfailing love.