Psalm 44:9-16
Continuing the Psalm 44 lament. Today’s reading is like none other that we have read in the Psalms. Yes, the writer is recounting his situation that brings out the lament, but he is leveling the blame at God for that situation. In six of today’s eight verses the psalmist is angry at God for allowing this situation to happen. Then in the last two verses he bemoans the disgrace, the shame that he feels from the taunts of the enemy.
I find myself angry at the psalmist blaming God, then doing his own “woe is me” because of the situation he and his people are in. I’m going to leave it there, maybe comment more later in the day.
Happy Easter? Not from today’s reading…
So, from earlier today… Yes, it seems that the psalmist is angry at God. Carol and I learned long ago from a renowned Bible teacher/preacher that we get angry when we feel that our rights have been violated. And looking back at the first eight verses in Psalm 44, it seems to me that the writer looked back to Israel’s history and saw God’s intervention, His deliverance, His gift of the Promised Land to the 12 tribes. So in the next six verses he expresses his anger – he feels that Israel’s right to have God intervene has been violated. So his anger makes sense to him. Unfortunately, his anger is based on a faulty premise – his expectation of God’s deliverance. God is God and we are not. He acts as and when He will. There’s an old proverb that I’m recalling, “Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die.” Anger at God does not register with me.