Psalm 44 Meditation | How to Be Bold with God

There is nothing shocking about the start of Psalm 44. The writer tells how God led the fathers into the Promised Land, drove out their enemies, and planted them securely. Their own strength didn’t do this. God’s arm saved them. The light of his face delighted in them. The writer takes God also as his own Savior: “You are my King, O God … you have saved us from our foes … and we will give thanks to your name forever” (4, 7, 8).
Then the Psalm gets uncomfortable. The writer first vents his frustration over God’s inaction, blaming him for mistreating his people. You have rejected us. You have failed to protect your sheep. You have “made us a laughingstock among the peoples” (14). The writer isn’t commending God for disciplining wayward children; he’s faulting him for neglecting his promises. God’s penalty is inappropriate, the writer claims “We have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant” (17). Perhaps most shocking, the writer closes by exhorting the almighty! He asks three fierce questions-why are you sleeping, why do you hide your face, why do you forget our affliction-and is-sues five demands that amount to this: wake up and come to our help by redeeming us.
Can we pray like this? Yes. Because this is an emergency psalm, as when the disciples awakened Jesus and asked if he cared that they were perishing in a terrible storm (Mark 4:38). This isn’t an ordinary way to talk to God. But it also isn’t a lesson in what not to do. Like a loving parent God listens patiently, empathetically, even when his children push the limits of respect. Paul’s use of verse 22 can help us under-stand the psalm (Rom. 8:36). “Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” Paul does the very opposite of blaming God for the saints’ misfortunes. Yes, Christians suffer. But not even our trouble can separate us from Christ’s love; we suffer for Christ’s sake. Believers conquer brokenness “through him who loved us” (37). God will not reject us (Ps. 44:9). When we feel rejected we too can “come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16 KJV) and insist that God keep his promises and re-deem his people for the sake of his steadfast love (Ps. 44:26).