As preached by Andrew Thompson.
"Some suffering is directly tied to sin in your life, but some is not."
The suffering of God's people should lead us to...
1) Recount God's wondrous deeds in redemptive history.
2) Voice our genuine complaints to God.
3) Expect God's faithful response.
Faithful Suffering In Redemption
Psalm 44
Christ Fellowship Church
American Fork, UT
August 11, 2024
[Psalm 44]
Obviously, a song of lament
Where Psalms 42 and 43 were written as the lamentation of an individual about deep suffering in their life, Psalm 44 is written by a representative of Israel lamenting the suffering of God’s people.
Not only general suffering, though: this is specifically a suffering that makes no immediate sense in the mind of the psalmist. It looks like it doesn’t seem to line up with what he knows.
If you happen to remember the last time I preached, I made a qualifying statement toward the beginning that “not all suffering you go through is directly tied to specific sin in your life but sometimes, it is.” But as I have dived into Psalm 44, I’ve come more and more to the understanding that the inverse of that statement is so much harder to hear.
Psalm 39 was written about suffering which was the clear discipline of God for sin in David’s life, and there is something about that type of suffering that is easier to be settled about. Yes, it hurts, and it may hurt terribly, but if you are listening to the Lord’s rebuke, you can see why it is happening, and you can repent accordingly.
In Psalm 44 though, the psalmist says Israel has been faithful to the covenant! But where are the blessings? Why does Israel seem to be under a curse from God? What are they even supposed to do?
Our modern dispositions make most of us a bit uncomfortable hearing
that.
The tone of Psalm 44 may strike us as “unbefitting of the Christian life.”
We might hear it and think
No one is good! Who is this guy to claim Israel has been faithful to God?
God is good! How dare this psalmist accuse Him of causing their suffering?
But let’s remember what this Psalm is:
This Psalm, which makes us feel a little squeamish because of how it addresses God, is a gift from God. It is a part of the True and Spirit-inspired songbook for the equipping and formation of God’s people.
This Psalm is the Word of God for the people of God.
Our text today pulls us out from the comfort of nice and tidy
categories in an underdeveloped theology, and it recognizes the
messiness of history and real life.
Some suffering is tied directly to sin in your life, but not all of it is.
We like to know the “why” of things in our life, but this text doesn’t give us an easy stock answer.
Psalm 44 doesn’t try to answer the question of why Christians may
suffer, but it does instruct and equip us for *how* we are to respond
when we see this suffering.
The Suffering of God’s People Should Lead Us To:
1) Recount God’s Wondrous Deeds In Redemptive History (v.1-8)
The suffering of God’s people always needs to be considered within the whole of redemptive history, so it is imperative that we retell and meditate on the stories God has given us.
For better or worse, the stories we are told and take in shape us.
If you want to learn about some of my deep-seated, irrational
fears, you can watch a few episodes of the 90’s “kids’” show:
“Are You Afraid Of The Dark?”
But if you want to learn about some of the virtues I value, read Tolkien. If you do, we will long to draw swords beside each other in a worthy battle, even if defeat seems almost certain. And good food. You will also desire good food.
A good story echoes reality in a way that makes you want to live in light of the truth it contains, but the story of redemptive history is the reality that all the good stories echo. And it is ours!
Look at [v. 1-3]:
These stories of God’s faithfulness in giving Israel the promised land are a generational inheritance that we get to hear and proclaim.
The psalmist puts himself and his generation in that story.
[vs.4-8]
The psalmist, here, reflects on the stories of God’s faithfulness to past generations and he proclaims the same God, King, and salvation as Israel’s hope and joy.
As we recount these stories, we need to do the same as the psalmist and count God’s faithfulness to the previous generations as faithfulness to us.
Remember that Israel wasn’t just chosen to inherit the promised land. The nation of Israel was chosen to contain the line of Christ, the promised one in Gen 3 who would crush the head of the serpent!
Christ did not come in a historical vacuum.
Everything before Christ's birth was preparing the world for His coming.
This is why Paul would say in Gal 4 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son”
Everything before Christ’s birth in redemptive history was given to shape the desires, fears, and expectations of God’s people.
The primary desire it was shaping in God’s people was to dwell with
God, unveiled.
After the sin of Man, God no longer dwelt with him in unbroken fellowship.
With the Tabernacle and the Temple, Israel could all see the place where the presence of God dwelt, but only one person could enter (and that was only after they were cleansed.
God wanted the people to remember that it is good to dwell with Him, but their sin kept them from entering themselves.
The primary fear Redemptive History was shaping in God’s people was fear of the just wrath of God.
All throughout the covenants God made with men were statements of His complete Holiness and worthiness of absolute worship:
Deut. 6:13-15 “It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.”
One of the primary expectations that Redemptive History was shaping in God’s people (especially in light of our text today) was the expectation that God would Sovereignly work on his own timeline.
All the genealogies of the Old Testament make this clear.
The people stayed expectant of this promised seed because God’s promises are sure (waiting and watching), but it was not quick as we count quickness.
Suffering has been a part of the flow of redemptive history ever since the Fall.
Look at Joseph who was sold into slavery only to be a part of saving, not only Israel but the nations through the wisdom God gave him in Egypt.
Look at how Israel became slaves in that land for 400 years.
40 years in the wilderness.
The ups and downs of the conquest of Canaan.
All of the several smaller-scale stories of justice, judgment, and sorrow.
Looking at redemptive history. It frains God's people to not always expect immediate worldly comfort.
As we place ourselves in the timeline of Redemptive History post-Christ’s ascension, we are still being shaped in the same ways except that we now see and fellowship more fully through Christ, our mediator!
Listen to how John continues telling the story of God’s people:
1 John 1:1-4 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was
with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we
have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too
may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing
these things so that our joy may be complete.”
So brothers and sisters, tell the coming generations the stories of God’s faithfulness from the Bible. Tell them stories of God's
faithfulness in the lives of ancient saints. Tell them stories of God's
faithfulness in your life.
Commit these to memory and make much of the unmerited
favor God has shown his People to yourself and those who will
hear.
Make thankfully telling the stories of God's faithfulness a part of
your family worship, and let all the stories actively shape your
household.
As we think about recounting God's works in redemptive history in light of Psalm 44, we are being told that telling these stories of God's faithfulness is preparation for times of suffering.
Considering God's faithfulness in our lives will keep us from envying the favor God has shown the previous generations.
In the midst of suffering, it is very easy to look at moments of
God's working and past generations and say “I wish you
would be faithful to *me*”
Considering God's faithfulness to the previous generations will
protect us from separating our personal testimonies from the
whole of redemptive history.
The practice of sharing our personal testimony is so good,
but remember that the plan of God does not revolve around
you. As we talk about the work God Has done in our lives,
it is so easy to forget that we are just one part of a vast
redemptive historical narrative.
When we forget the wholeness of God’s redemptive
history, our good times make it feel like all the story is
pleasant, but add a little bit of suffering, and God is made
out to be faithless in our hearts.
Every part of your life, the good and the painful must be considered within the context of redemptive history.
The Suffering of God’s People Should Lead Us To:
2) Voice Our Genuine Complaints to God (v. 9-25)
If you look at vs. 9-25, you'll see that the modern worship song in Psalm 44 ended in verse 8… this is where we get squeamish.
[v. 9-25]
The tone of this section is one that makes many of us
uncomfortable, but there is a good chance that the specific
words of these verses are even sharper than many of us would
realize on a quick reading.
Almost every line of vs. 9-20 directly correlates to a curse God
promises if Israel is unfaithful in Deuteronomy 28.
For the sake of time, I'm not going to explicitly draw out every
one-to-one connection, but listen to me read some of these off
as you look at the verses in Psalm 44.
“The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your
enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee
seven ways before them.”
“You shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and
there shall be no one to help you.”
“And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword
among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.”
“And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from
one end of the earth to the other.”
“You shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as
male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”
This section is not just someone saying, “We’re a little uncomfy with
our current situation, God.” This is a representative of Israel looking
at and speaking in terms of the covenant God had made with them
and saying, “We have been faithful. Where are you, God? When will
you act positively toward us?”
The psalmist looks at Deuteronomy 28 and says “this suffering that
we are enduring is you cursing us, when you are supposed to be
blessing us.”
At the time of writing this Psalm, there were a couple of implicit
questions: “How could you do this to us?” and “Are you
forsaking us forever?”
There are almost certainly several people here today who have
thought these questions before. It is very likely there are some who
are thinking these questions right now.
If that is the case, I want to remind you, brother or sister, that
God gave this Psalm for our good. If you don't yet, feel
comfortable voicing your complaints in your own words, pray
and read this Psalm. But voice your genuine complaints to God.
Nothing waters the fruits of bitterness and resentment in a healthy
home quite like passive aggressiveness and neglected
communication.
Questioning God's goodness in your heart but continuing to just
pray “ God, you are good” through gritted teeth will only train
you to hate God's goodness in unbelief.
And let me remind you that the sanctimonious show you're
putting on doesn’t fool God “for He knows the secrets of the
heart.”
When you see a coward of a husband abandon his wife and children
for selfishness and there seems to be no real consequence for him,
when every good thing seems to be getting ripped away from
brothers and sisters, when a loved one is slowly losing their mental
faculties and everyone and everything starts to fade from their
memory, when children die unexpectedly, or Christians are
persecuted for their basic beliefs… cry out to God!
Say, “Where are you in this?”
How could allow this? How could you do this?
God would rather hear the genuine complaints of *His* people
than receive false worship.
That may sound like an extreme way to say that, but let me reiterate
this: refusing to voice your questions and complaints to God
cultivates hatred of God in your heart.
This is sin to pull out by its roots as quickly as possible.
Confess it to a brother or sister and repent by genuinely
crying out the depths of your heart to God. Leave no
stone unturned.
Pray with your brother or sister and pray regularly.
Consider yourself loved when they ask questions they
probe a bit too deep into the hidden places of your heart.
Our response to suffering will oftentimes reveal what we are already
cultivating in our hearts and what we are truly believing.
1 Peter 1: 6-7, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if
necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the
tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that
perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in
praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Passive aggressive prayers or prayerlessness, when you
consider the suffering of God's people, reveals a faith that
holds that God either has no power to save his people or
that you think you care more about His people than Him.
But the very act of genuinely praying these things to God
reveals the belief that God hears and has the power to
respond.
As I said before, this Psalm is not directly about giving answers
to the questions, in itself.
There are some questions you will ask that you may not
receive an answer for in this life. But cast your burdens on
Christ, and he will give you rest.
If you lift your genuine complaints to God with redemptive history in
mind, it will cultivate and lead you to exhibit the third and final
point.
The Suffering of God’s People Should Lead Us To:
3) Expect God’s Faithful Response (v.8, 26)
Look at verse [26]
A final cry for God to respond to this prayer in accordance
with his Covenant love.
There are dozens and dozens of readily available interviews with
apostate celebrities who have “deconstructed”. If you listen to some
and pay attention, there's almost always a very obvious, false belief
they were always believing about God:
Suffering, sometimes very mildly so, revealed that he was a tool
for them to gain glory for their own name, or that they would be
more just than God, or maybe an understanding of the Holiness
of God that was really more that God's a chill guy.
One thing I can guarantee is that none of them prayerfully
voiced their complaints in view of redemptive history.
It's through these prayers that the shaping work of recounting the
stories of God's wondrous deeds in an end of history has an effect.
These prayers reveal what we desire, reveal, and expect.
Through the long work of redemptive history,
We are shown that God is working to bring his people to
himself.
We are shown that the wrath of God is Just and worthy to be
feared.
We are shown that God Has worked and will continue to work
Listen to any deconstruction story and pay attention for what they
desire, fear, and expect.
They didn't desire God as he truly is.
They didn't rightly fear the wrath of God for one reason or
another.
And they didn't believe that God's work is good.
I bring up those who deconstructed because I want to emphasize
how important this act of proper lamentation is.
The lamentation of Psalm 44 is not just the psalmist speaking at
God in complete despair.
He voices his complaints to God within the context of
redemptive history comes that he has a deep and real hope.
He fully expects God to respond faithfully.
Obviously, in verse 26 we see him root his pleas in God's
Covenant love, which the psalmist knows God will
be faithful to, but earlier in the psalm, the psalmist is
already expressed this certainty.
Look at verse 8.
“ We will give thanks to your name forever”
This Psalm doesn't give easy and immediate answers to the suffering
God's people.
It expresses that there might even be periods that feel like
forsakenness.
But the complaints of this song cannot be disconnected from
the certain hope the psalmist expresses.
We may not know how or when, but we do know that God
is faithful to his promises and the favor he has shown all
of his people is the favor he has shown us.
Brothers and sisters, as you suffer and see suffering, remember that
God has revealed himself to us and shown us his infinite love.
Paul quotes this psalm in Romans 8.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can
be[i] against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up
for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who
justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who
died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of
God, who indeed is interceding for us. 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.”
This is the hope with which we pray: that God has shown us his love, and no suffering or evil power can separate us from it
As we approach Lord's Supper, think of it within redemptive history
and what did a shaping in us.
We commune with God as those whom Christ has died, risen,
and ascended for. He has earned our salvation and for this
time, we are not physically with him. The Lord's supper is
meant to shape our desire to physically see and be with him
again. Unveiled and glorified.
We commune as those who no longer fear condemnation
because Christ received the punishment for our sin. The Lord's
supper is meant to shape our fear of God in a way that leaves
no room for fear of anything in this world.
And we commune as those to whom Christ has promised to
return and raise into eternal life. We look at the Lord's supper
and see the suffering of our Savior and are taught to expect
Suffering to be a part of God's glorious redemptive plan.
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