He Hears Us - Why Do You Hide

The Psalms are a collection of prayers that teach us to praise God in all circumstances, more than petitioning Him to improve ours.

There is pain in His presence.

Psalm 44:1-3 CSB God, we have heard with our ears—our ancestors have told us—the work you accomplished in their days, in days long ago: In order to plant them, you displaced the nations by your hand; in order to settle them, you brought disaster on the peoples. For they did not take the land by their sword—their arm did not bring them victory—but by your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable toward them.

Psalm 44:3 CSB For they did not take the land by their sword—their arm did not bring them victory—but by your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable toward them.

Psalm 44:9-16 CSB But you have rejected and humiliated us; you do not march out with our armies. You make us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have taken plunder for themselves. You hand us over to be eaten like sheep and scatter us among the nations. You sell your people for nothing; you make no profit from selling them. You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors, a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us. You make us a joke among the nations, a laughing stock among the peoples. My disgrace is before me all day long, and shame has covered my face, because of the taunts of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy and avenger.

Psalmist’s accusation against God:

Psalm 44:17-9 All this has happened to us, but we have not forgotten you, or betrayed your covenant Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from your path. But you have crushed us in a haunt of jackals and have covered us with deepest darkness.

Psalm 44:20-22 If we had forgotten the name of our God and spread out our hands to a foreign god, wouldn’t God have found this out, since he knows the secrets of the heart? Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

Lament is how we pray in our pain.

Lamentations 3:1-2 I am the man who has seen affliction

Matthew 26:39(b) … He Fell on His face “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Lament is not answered, it is confounded.

Psalm 44:4 You are my King, my God,

Psalm 44:23-26 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping? Get up! Don’t reject us forever! Why do you hide and forget our affliction and oppression? For we have sunk down to the dust;

“It is the cry of God in anguish, doubt, and search. It is the inconceivable cry that does not silence our lament, but focuses it on a God of such wrath, and such mercy, and such passion for his glory and our reconciliation that he is willing to go to the most incomprehensible lengths to win us to his heart. Lament softens the hardness of false piety or arrogant unbelief, intensifies our search, and puts us before the face of Jesus’ inconceivable cry.”

There is pain in His presence.

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