This psalm is a difficult one to read. It is the great regret of what was and what is now. The psalmist recounts the days of old when God was Israel’s warrior and protector, but then, he looks at current state when Israel is a shambles and a joke to the known world. The psalmist is truly grieving and no longer wants His nation to be a joke. He is calling on God to reassert control and make His presence known on Israel’s behalf.
There are never easy answers to God’s plan or His timing. We often scratch our own heads in wonder about why God does what He does. We evaluate our lives and wonder why as we follow the Lord faithfully there are trials and temptations. Each of us know God could make the bad go away and make life amazing and fun.
After all, our Father has cattle on a thousand hills. Still, God allows difficult times that are life altering and faith stretching. Sometimes, we are pushed beyond our limits and question God’s very presence and love during the trial.
Take comfort in knowing that we are not the first to question God and His plan. He has heard the question through the ages posed by great and small over issues involving life, family, finances, health, career, and so many other things. Like Job, many times God does not give us the why’s. We must be content knowing He is in charge and never caught off guard. The Lord will complete His plan in His way, and in His timing.
We will have our Heavenly Father at our side until He either returns to get us or when we die and go to be with Him. Either way, we must continue to trust God through good and through difficult days.
God Bless You
We have heard it with our ears, O God;
our ancestors have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your hand you drove out the nations
and planted our ancestors;
you crushed the peoples
and made our ancestors flourish.
3 It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face, for you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God,
who decrees[c] victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push back our enemies;
through your name we trample our foes.
6 I put no trust in my bow,
my sword does not bring me victory;
7 but you give us victory over our enemies,
you put our adversaries to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day long,
and we will praise your name forever.[d]
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us;
you no longer go out with our armies.
10 You made us retreat before the enemy,
and our adversaries have plundered us.
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for a pittance,
gaining nothing from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.
15 I live in disgrace all day long,
and my face is covered with shame
16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,
because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.
17 All this came upon us,
though we had not forgotten you;
we had not been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals;
you covered us over with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?
25 We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us;
rescue us because of your unfailing love.
Walking With God 