Ps 44

Ps 44:1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, the deeds You did in their days, in days of old:

:2 You drove out the nations with Your hand, but them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.

:3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them.

:4 You are my King, O God; command victories for Jacob.

:5 Through You we will push down our enemies; through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

:6 For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me.

:7 But You have saved us from our enemies, and have put to shame those who hated us.

:8 In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever. Selah

:9 But You have cast us off and put us to shame, and You do not go out with our armies.

:10 You make us turn back from the enemy, and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

:11 You have given us up like sheep intended for food, and have scattered us among the nations.

:12 You sell Your people for next to nothing, and are not enriched by selling them.

:13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those all around us.

:14 You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.

:15 My dishonor is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me,

:16 because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, because of the enemy and the avenger.

:17 All this has come upon us; but we have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

:18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way;

:19 but You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.

:20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,

:21 would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

:22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

:23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever.

:24 Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?

:25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground.

:26 Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies' sake.

This is headed as Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor.

Ever feel like God must have fallen asleep while dealing with your situation? Well Psalm 44 is for you right then. It will help you put into words that frustration, and find help to keep trusting.

Here are four things it points out:

1. God has helped us before. (verses 1-8). As they looked back over history they saw time and again when God had helped His people. If we look back over our lives or the lives of the people in the bible we will see the same thing.
2. God wasn't helping them right then. (verses 9-16). So what changed? They were confused. Sometimes we get that way too when it seems God isn't working on our behalf.
3. God should be helping them (us). (verses 17-22) The usual reason He wasn't helping was sin or disobedience, but here they say they are being faithful to God. So they appealed to God's honor for deliverance from their enemies (situation),.
4. God will help us. (verses 23-26). God may seem asleep but He never sleeps. God will have the final word. We never know what He is doing that is unseen on our behalf. And sometimes, He is trying to teach us something in the meantime.

There are times when we go through things through no fault of our own (sin or disobedience). But so did Jesus. He suffered the cross and He had done NOTHING to deserve it. Our situation seems small in comparison doesn't it?

Ps 43

Ps 43:1 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

:2 For You are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

:3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle.

:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.

:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

This is headed as Prayer to God in Time of Trouble.

Ever had a time of trouble and you just didn't know what to pray? Pray this psalm for starters.  

Ps 42

Ps 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.

:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

:3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

:4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.

:6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, from the Hill Mizar.

:7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me.

:8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me – a prayer to the God of my life.

:9 I will say to God my Rock, “why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

:10 As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

:11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

This is listed as Yearning for God in the Midst of Distresses.

This is the first psalm to designate someone other than David as the author.

How long has it been since you were thirsty for God? Maybe as you read this you feel far from the Lord. You might be discouraged or depressed. You might be exhausted from pursuing success or financial security. You might realize as you stop for a minute and really think about it, that you are the one who has put so much distance between yourself and God. Let the Holy Spirit use the words of this psalm to stir a longing for God in your heart. Pursue a restored relationship with the Lord as if your spiritual life depended on it, because it does!

PS 41

Ps 41:1 Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

:2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

:3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.

:4 I said, “ Lord, be merciful to me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

:5 My enemies speak evil of me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”

:6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies; his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he goes out, he tells it.

:7 All who hate me whisper together against me; against me they devise my hurt.

:8 “An evil disease,” they say, “cling to him. And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”

:9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, as lifted up his heel against me.

:10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.

:11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me, because my enemy does not triumph over me.

:12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever.

:13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

This is headed as the Blessing and Suffering of the Godly.

Sounds like David is seriously ill and his enemies are hoping he dies.

This psalm kinda reads like a review of the first 40.

1. Sin that needs forgiving. (ps 32 and 38)
2. Sickness that needs healing (ps 6 and 38)
3. A cry for help is heard and a new song emerges (ps 40)
4. A whole lot of enemies hoping something bad happens to him

We don't really know the actual circumstance of when this was written. But it doesn't really matter. It applies to a lot of situations.

1. When we are sick.
2. When we need God's forgiveness.
3. When we are attacked or betrayed.

As you read through this psalm underline or circle everything the Lord does.

1. He delivers
2. He preserves
3. He blesses
4. He strengthens
5. He restores us to health
6. He has mercy on us
7. He upholds us

It is easy in the tough times to focus on the problems; David challenges us to focus on the Lord.

David knew what it was like to have a close friend turn against him. (verse 9)

If you've had a trusted friend, spouse or child turn against you, you know how David felt. His son and his friend turned against him. You also know how Jesus felt. One of Jesus' closest followers betrayed Him. In John 13:18 Jesus quoted from Psalm 41:9 as a prediction of His own betrayal by a close friend. He never took revenge on His betrayer. He just kept reaching out to him in grace and Judas turned away from Jesus' love forever. Jesus can help you respond in grace to your betrayer too. Easy to say, hard to do. I have been betrayed by close friends a couple of times. It is much easier being attacked no matter how wrongly by someone who doesn't really know you isn't it?

Ps 40

Ps 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry,

:2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

:3 He has put a new song in my mouth – praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.

:4 Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

:5 Many, O Lord my God are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

:6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened, Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

:7 Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me,

:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.”

:9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly; indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You Yourself know.

:10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your truth from the great assembly.

:11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

:12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me

:13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!

:14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life; let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil.

:15 Let them be confounded because of their shame, who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

:16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”

:17 Bur I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.

This is headed as Faith Persevering in Trial.

This psalm shows God bringing David through a trial and another one starting. Isn't that the way life is? It may not have been in the timing or way David wanted or expected but He came through. He will always come if we are faithful.

Until God comes we must wait, not the angry pacing back and forth kind of waiting. Not the impatient why isn't this drive through line moving. Not the sleepy when will this sermon end waiting,. David waited expectantly. He knew that God had heard his cry and would come to his aid.

Think back to your last crisis. Was your first impulse to call out to God for help and deliverance> Once you prayed did you trust God to be actively working for your good in the situation? Did you wait expectantly? That's the response of a faith filled heart.

Ps 39

Ps 39:1 I said, “I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me,”

:2 I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up.

:3 My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

:4”Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.

:5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah.

:6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.

:7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.

:8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

:9 I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it.

:10 Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

:11 When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; surely every man is vapor. Selah

:12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

:13 Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength before I go away and am no more.”

This is headed as Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

David had a lot of questions. But he also had answers. His question, Lord, what do I wait for? Answer, my hope is in Your. David was under the discipline and rebuke of the Lord as he wrote, but he knew that eventually God would bring him out into a place of joy and peace. That's what we need to keep in mind when life seems empty and meaningless. When God is involved, nothing is wasted, no act is worthless. The problem is we don't always see the impact we have. Most of our influence for good and for God won't be revealed until we stand before Christ.

Sin erects a wall between us and God. In the last verses of this psalm David says he feels like a stranger in God's presence. Like someone who doesn't belong or who doesn't have the right to come close to God. If you feel far away from God, He hasn't moved, you feel that way because of disobedience. The good news is when we turn back to God in repentance and confession, we find He is willing to restore us to a close relationship with Him. We may still suffer the consequences of our sinful choices, but God walks through those difficult times with us.  

Ps 38

PS 38:1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!

:2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply, and Your hand presses me down.

:3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger, nor any health in my bones because of my sin.

:4 For m iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

:5 My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness.

:6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

:7 For my loins are full of inflammation and there is no soundness in my flesh.

:8 I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.

:9 Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.

:10 My heart pants, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

:11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my relatives stand afar off.

:12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me; thoe who seek my hurt speak of destruction, and plan deception all the day long.

:13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.

:14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear and in whose mouth is no response.

:15 For in You, O Lord, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God.

:16 For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me, lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.”

:17 For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me.

:18 For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin.

:19 But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong; and those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.

:20 Those also who render evil for good, they are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.

:21 Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me!

:22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!

This is headed as Prayer in Time of Chastening.

Sometimes sickness is just sickness. An attack of the enemy. Sometimes it is the chastening of God.

The next time you get sick, ask God to heal you. Take full advantage of the good things God has provided to help restore you to health – doctors, medication, surgery, therapy, rest. If the sickness persists, however, give quiet consideration to your spiritual health. Be open to God's Spirit. He won't play games. If there is a sin issue, He will make it very clear. Then pray David's prayer in Psalm 38, The Lord will come quickly to help,

Mt 7:7 “Ask, and it will be gien to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

:8 For everyone who ask receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

:9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone?

Ever have unanswered prayer? Wonder why? Honestly all prayers are answered but sometimes the answer is no. Ever feel like God isn't hearing your prayer?

The example here is a good child asking for a good thing. What parent will reward bad behavior by giving a child what they are asking for? Our Father God is no different. Have I been asking God for money for something when I have not taken care of something that I had/have the money to take care of? Have I not forgiven someone for something I think they did or that they did do that hurt me? Have I been unkind to someone? Would you give your child something they want if they acted in this way? Then why are you surprised if you are acting this way that God isn't giving you what you ask for?

The evil one uses three D's to keep you from finding God. Distractions, deception, and discouragement.