Verse 9. “But thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame…” Here the patriot bard begins to contract the past glories of the nation's histories with its present sadness and distress; which he does not ascribe to the death of some human champion, or to the accidents of war, but solely and alone to the withdrawal of Israel's God. It seemed to the mourner that Jehovah had grown weary of His people and had put them away in abhorrence, as men lay aside leprous garments, loathing the sight of them. To show His displeasure He had made His people to be ridiculed by the heathen, whose easy victories over their largest armies covered Israel with disgrace. Alas! For a church and people when the Lord in the active energy of His Spirit withdraws from them. He will not cast away His people finally and totally, but many a church as been left to defeat and disgrace on account of sin, and therefore all churches should be exceedingly watchful lest the like should happen to them.
C. H. Spurgeon
Verse 13. “Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.” How blessed is the Church of Christ when she is the object of the world's attacks and hatred on account of her “looking forth as the morning … terrible as an army with banners” against the sins of Godlessness. How pathetic that same Church has become“ a reproach” to her neighbours and “a scorn and a derision to them that are round about,” on account of her “Godlessness” – i.e. the absence of God in all that she does and thinks.
Verse 15. “My confusion is continually before me …” When the visible church is visited with calamities, the true members of it are partakers of the trouble, and sorrow, and shame of that condition.
David Dickson
Verse 17. “All this has come upon us: yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.” Happy the man who can echo these words even in the worst of times of backsliding in the history of the church. Although we cannot excuse ourselves from many other sins for which thou hast justly punished us yet this we must say for ourselves, that through Thy grace we have kept our selves from apostasy and idolatry, in spite of all the rewards promised, and punishments threatened. We trust that Thou wilt graciously consider this, and not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear.
Matthew Poole.
Verse 17. “… … neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.” But I shall tell you, sirs, the right way of covenanting with God. It is when Christ and the believer meet, and our Lord gives him His laws, statutes, and commands. Jesus charges him not to quit a hoof of them; no, though he should be torn into a thousand pieces, and the faithful covenanter says, Amen.
Sandy Peden (Covenanter)
Verses 18 & 19. “Our heart is not turned back … though thou hast sore broken us …” Neither the persecuting hand of men, nor the chastising hand of God, had deterred the ancient saint. True believers resemble the moon which emerges from her eclipse by keeping her motion. Shall we cease to be believers because others will not cease to be persecutors?
William Secker
Verses 20 & 21. “If we have forgotten the name of our God … shall not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.” In the time of persecution for religion, nothing can counterbalance the terrors and allurements of the persecutors, save the fear of God and the love of God settled in the heart. The reason for the saint's steadfastness in this psalm, is because God would have searched out their sin if they had done otherwise, “for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”
David Dickson
Verse 21. “Shall not God search this out?” As God cannot be deceived by our subtlety, neither can He be excluded by our secrecy.
Thomas Watson
Verse 22. “Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long …” So long as the world is the world, and the devil the devil, there must be warfare, and believers in Christ must be soldiers. The world hated Christ, and the world will hate true Christians. As the great reformer, Luther, said, “Cain will go on murdering Abel so long as the church is on earth.”
J. C. Ryle
Verse 26. “Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies sake.” Our help and his mercies are good bedfellows. – AMEN.
This Page Title – Gleanings in the Psalms - Psalm 44 (Continued) The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 85 – placed on line July 2010 Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk |