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The reality of the Christian life.

24 Aug 25 Sermon Craig Smith

Psalm 44 (ESV)

Introduction

Have you ever been “mis-sold” something? 

In recent years there have been a number of well publicised “mis-selling” scandals. People have been mis-sold payment protection on loans, car manufacturers have been discovered mis-selling cars with false emissions claims, and many others. It is always interesting how we use softer terms, like mis-sold, for something which is actually deceitful, and deliberate, when it comes to making money at other peoples’ expense. Perhaps in a world where lying and deceit are so common, we become desensitised to such matters, unless of course we are the victims of someone’s deceit and “mis-selling”.

But I wonder if you feel that is something which impacts you as a Christian? 

What I mean is, do you feel you have been mis-sold Christianity? 

You see there are many people who would “sell” you the Christian life, rather than share it as it truly is. There are people out there who would have you believe that if you come to follow Jesus your life will just be amazing. You will be happy and content all the time, and you will have wonderful blessings in terms of your health, and your wealth. They will tell you all sorts of stuff, that in reality, are not what you experience as you live out your life trying to be a follower of Jesus.

Well our study today is going to consider some of this as we look at Psalm 44 and recognise that the people of God were struggling to understand how their lives could be filled with great pain and suffering even though they recognised all the right things about God and who he is. They were true believers in God, but they had the wrong idea of what this meant for them. They were struggling with why bad things were happening when they were being faithful to God.

It is an honest account of experiences we will all share through our journey of faith, and even though we might not express our challenges in the same way, if we are honest we will see that we can all be guilty of thinking if we live well for God, then all will be well for us in our lives.

It will also hopefully be a help for anyone who feels they have been mis-sold the Christian life, and are struggling with continuing on this journey, as we establish the reality of Christian life and why we can have true hope and peace in the midst of the reality of life in this world.

So let’s take time to look at Psalm 44.

Background

This Psalm like many was intended for communal singing. We see at the start there is an instruction for the choirmaster, and it is a Maskil of the Sons of Korah. A Maskil indicates this is musical or poetic writing to teach and help people reflect on a particular issue. 

It is important to focus on the fact that this Psalm was to be sung collectively. It was not just the experience of an individual being expressed, and that is helpful in understanding that what is being experienced is something we collectively share in together. The specific issues might be personal to us, but not unique, and they are not to be suffered in isolation. It will highlight that it is a potentially normal experience for all believers. So hopefully we keep that in mind as we look closer at the text together.

The Psalm can be split into 4 different parts.

So, let’s take a bit of time to go through these parts and consider them more closely. I want us to look at the main elements from the text first of all, and then we will circle back in terms of the application we can all take from what is being expressed through the Psalm.

Remembering the testimony of others about God (Verses 1-3)

The Psalm starts off well, as there is collective recognition of all that God has done for his people. There is a reflection on all that they have heard about God’s protection and provision for his people in bringing them from a place of slavery to freedom, and in providing for them the victory over their enemies as God drove them out of the lands that would become the promised land for the people of Israel. 

It is most likely that what is being recalled here in verses 1 to 3 is the time of the exodus from Egypt, and the remembrance of the covenant that God made with his people. They were his chosen people, and he delighted in them. Even though there were bumps along the way, this was a time of great blessing, and of closeness to God as he journeyed with them for nearly forty years. This was a time of God giving them the commandments, and a time where God would dwell with them in the tabernacle he instructed be set up for Him in the midst of them. 

These times would be remembered from generation to generation, as God instructed parents to instruct their children of these events, and from the special events that were celebrated, such as passover. 

Recognising God’s power and provision in their own experience (Verses 4-8)

It wasn’t just the testimony of other people which they could reflect on as we see from verses 4 to 8. The change from the collective “we”, “them” etc. terms in the first three verses to singular terms of “my” and “I”, in verses 4 to 8 is indicative of a collective but personal account. It is recognising that as individuals they can all identify the power and provision of God in their own lives. 

They too have seen God at work in dealing with the threat from enemies, and this is recognised with great humility. They recognise that all the success and blessing they have is because God is the one doing these things.

We see this in verses 5-7,

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 saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.

As individuals and collectively they all recognise and acknowledge the power, sovereignty and love of God in their lives. And verse 8 concludes so wonderfully and positively,

In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever.

If Psalm 44 was to conclude here it would be a wonderful Psalm of acknowledgement and praise. The people know they are loved by God, and they know he is the one who cares for them and provides for them in everything. 

However….

Although the Psalm starts off well in terms of praising God, we get to the turning point in verse 9. We see this as verse 8 concludes with the instruction “Selah”. Remember this is Psalm to be sung, and Selah is a musical direction which roughly translates as “pause”, or “wait for it”.

And the wait for it comes in verse 9 when the praise turns to pleading with a great big – BUT!….

But you have rejected us and disgraced us.

The sense of rejection (Verses 9-22)

It is not particularly clear what period of time in the history of Israel that this Psalm was written. That is not particularly important beyond the fact that the people find themselves in a time of oppression and depression. Things are not going well for them. But we know from the accounts of Israel throughout the Old Testament that there were periods of blessing and discipline as God would provide wonderfully for them, and also times when they would abuse this and wander from him in disobedience and be warned, and then would follow the consequences as they ignored these warnings.

From the reading of verses 9 -16 it might be possible to consider that Israel finds itself in a time of judgement that God had previously warned about. It is very clear that the time of victory and honour are over. They now find themselves under the oppression of others, and are disgraced and shamed. They are a laughing stock to the nations around them. The once feared people of Israel that others trembled at the sight of: The people of an Almighty God, have been brought to nothing. They are worthless. 

Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. There seems no way out. All seems hopeless, and they have concluded that God has rejected them. Even though they have done nothing wrong they feel they have been judged and punished.

And we see that in their appeal in verse 17 and 18.

All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.

Our hearts have not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way.

They cannot understand why God would allow them to be subjected to the treatment that those who had rebelled and turned from God deserved. They are saying we have remained faithful, we have followed in the way you have commanded us, and yet you appear to have rejected us God.

In fact, they go further, and demonstrate the genuine nature of their faith and belief, by acknowledging this is not some vanity or misguided appeal to God in their own testimony of their conduct. They acknowledge that God himself knows the truth of their hearts, the secrets of their true faith in him.

Verse 20-21,

If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secret of the heart.

They know there is no hiding place from God. They believe they have lived as he calls them. Now, it is important to make the point here that this is not a plea on the basis of living completely sin free. They will have messed up in every day life as we all do. But the plea is about their faith and worship uniquely of God. Not like their predecessors who worshipped false gods, and who turned a deaf ear to God’s commands and His place as the only living, and true God. That was the behaviour that previously brought the type of experience that these believers were now experiencing, so why? Why God? That is their cry to him at this time. What have we done wrong? 

The request to be redeemed (Verses 23 – 26)

And in the midst of their confusion they continue to call to God in verses 23 to 26. These last three verses are a strange mix of misguided accusation, and affirming determination that only God can help them. 

In verses 23 and 24, they appear to be accusing God of being asleep and ignoring the state of affliction and pain they find themselves in. 

Now however misguided their accusations of God are in these verses, it is clear that there is a desperation in their crying out to God. Whilst there are times from history where God had figuratively turned away from Israel in judgement, there is clearly language being used which is more about the feelings of the people than the reality and true character of God. 

They are at rock bottom, and are at the point of despairing of life itself. This is reflected in verse 25,

For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.

This is reflective of real pain and trauma. This is not the position of people facing some minor or trivial inconvenience. That is what we see if we look back to verse 22,

Yet for your sake we are killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

So here are their big questions – 

How can God stand back and watch those who love him and praise him be killed for being his people? 

Surely the God they have heard of and experienced cannot be aware of this or he would have done something to help?

And yet in the midst of all this, there is the light of hope in the darkness of their despair, as we see in verse 26,

Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

The people have not given up. They are confused, they are suffering, they are in great pain, but they demonstrate that they continue to trust in God. 

For all they don’t understand about the circumstances they find themselves in, they show they continue to understand that God’s love never fails. They cry out to the God who loves them.

Application

So, thinking about your own experience of the Christian life, is there anything you can relate to in terms of what we have covered in Psalm 44?

If we have been a genuine believer in Jesus for any length of time, then I think we will have had times where we wonder where God is in our lives.

Things might have started off well. We may have come to know Jesus through the stories of others who have shared with us. They will have shared with you how Jesus changed them, and how their lives have been saved. Some stories are incredible in terms of what God has done to transform some peoples’ lives. It is great to hear these stories and be encouraged by them. 

We can recognise the wonderful things we have experienced in our own lives, and see how God has blessed us with many good things. When life is going well, as we see it, we can thank and praise God for all he is doing for us. 

But….

Things go wrong for us. We might think we just need to ask for good health and all will be well, but then we get sick and we don’t get better. We pray for loved ones who are sick, but they don’t get better, and sadly they die. We ask for good things in life and look to prosper in our finances, and have successful careers, but then one day we find ourselves out of work, and struggling to make ends meet. 

Maybe we think that everyone we know will love to hear about Jesus and the wonderful difference he has made in our lives, but then discover that friends and family start to cut us off, and actually the world hates to hear about Jesus, and Christians are just mocked and ridiculed. 

Then maybe you hear about Christians in other parts of the world who are sent to prison or are murdered for their faith, and that scares you, and you wonder why God would allow that.

So why has it all gone wrong?

Well the depth of the why question is beyond our time today to attempt to answer, but one lesson from Psalm 44 we can take away is the wrong thinking that we deserve a quiet and easy life if we live the right way for God. God has bigger and better plans for us, and achieves that in ways that we don’t like or appreciate sometimes. And if we want to avoid being mis-sold the Christian life then we need to read the terms and conditions of the contract for ourselves, rather than simply relying on what others tell us, or we want to believe ourselves. 

What I mean is, we need to get to know God’s word, and look at what it teaches. Look at the lives of those who have lived faithfully for God throughout bible history, and what God communicated to them and through them. 

And a second lesson is that life is going to be hard and confusing at times, but we must keep our hope and trust in God. We will grieve and suffer in different ways, and we will cry out to God in our confusion and pain. We will accuse him of being absent, question if he notices our situation or even cares. And maybe we will have to realise that there won’t be an answer or fix to our suffering. 

Psalm 44 and other accounts throughout our bibles give an honest voice that pain is real, and it is not wrong to feel it. It is not a weakness or lack of faith. We are not called to be fake and pretend all is okay when our hearts are being torn apart by trauma and pain. We are called to keep trusting in God and be honest with him.

But the reality of what it means to follow Jesus, is found in the life and words of Jesus himself. 

Did Jesus leave the glory and majesty of heaven to come into this world and live in a palace, and a life of great riches, commanding people as their King to do as he told them? No! He came as a vulnerable baby to a young couple scandalised and shunned in their community, born in a stable with animals, grew up in a poor home, and saw his own mother widowed. 

Was Jesus accepted and received by everyone when he started his ministry, did he gain great wealth from teaching people and live a life of luxury? No! He was rejected and accused of being the devil by many, he lived without a permanent home, and wandered from place to place. The people he came to save rejected him, his friend betrayed him, his other friends abandoned him, and his enemies called for him to be crucified.

Was Jesus blind to suffering and hurting people? No! He was the one filled with compassion for the lost and rejected, and the one who wept at the grave of Lazarus, and wept for Jerusalem and the peoples’ rejection of God. He was the one who willingly gave up his life for those who were his enemies.

Did Jesus say, follow me and all your dreams will come true? No! Jesus said we were to follow him by taking up our own crosses, and that if they persecuted and hated him they would persecute and hate those who followed him. 

So, if Jesus didn’t come to live an easy life and promise us an easy life, then why did he come? Well he came as God’s response to verse 26, of Psalm 44. He came to redeem us for the sake of God’s steadfast love.

Jesus came to save those who were enemies of God, and who are held in the slavery of sin and rebellion and who are heading for eternity in Hell. He brought forgiveness through his own life, sacrifice, death and resurrection. He was tested through his life on earth. He suffered through his life on earth. He knows pain, and suffering. He knows the feeling of God turning away from him, as he paid for our sin on the cross. 

And he went through all of that so we could have a relationship with God as his children for all eternity. He paid a price for this that we could never pay. He didn’t come to make our lives perfect, yet. We are works in progress and we are still part of this world and all it’s brokeness. We are not immune from the troubles of life. So we have to live with them, alongside the good times and wonderful blessings we all enjoy.

And whilst we can’t attempt to consider the depth of all that Psalm 44 raises and addresses in terms of why this is the case, we need to remember the process of transforming us into the Holy and perfect children of God that we will one day become is filled with testing and discipline. 

The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the purpose and importance of God’s testing and discipline in our lives. It is a sign of being his true children and it is for our good. (Hebrews 12: 5-11)

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

We often wrongly define discipline simply in terms of punishment, but it is equally appropriate to consider in terms of training and application to do something well or better. Athletes have to be disciplined in training to compete, students have to disciplined in study to learn and pass exams, etc. Those who drive them on in these pursuits are doing it to see them succeed.

Sometimes in our lives we will face chastisement from God. And this is correct. But also, as a loving Father, God is allowing many things in our lives to develop us, to test and strengthen our faith in him. We don’t always see it. It can often be masked by pain and tears, but we can take encouragement from these words in Hebrews. And we can take encouragement from Psalm 44, that for all the trials and trauma, the people still called out to God, and trusted in him to redeem them.

When we come to these moments in life, will we stay trusting in God? 

One thing we know is that God will never walk away from us. And this is something the apostle Paul captures for us Romans chapter 8. He captures elements of Psalm 44 and answers the cries of those who called out to God (Romans 8: 35-38)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So how will you respond today? 

The Christian life is a mix of many experiences and circumstances. I hope you will be encouraged to keep trusting in God. He never sleeps. He sees all, he knows all. He has not rejected you. He loves you. So, keep your eyes on him as your hope and redeemer.