Embrace the Word for Wednesday, April 1, 2026
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Psalm 44 is a prayer expressing deep sorrow. The superscription reads: “To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.” We were introduced to the Sons of Korah in the previous day’s reflection. These worship leaders offer a Maskil, which in this context most likely refers to the skillful instructions that are contained in this Psalm. Similar to Psalms 42 and 43, Psalm 44 also expresses deep sorrow over being separated from Jerusalem and facing taunts by his enemies. The refrain stated in Psalms 42 and 43 about his soul being cast down is expressed in Psalm 44 when the Psalmist states: “For our soul is bowed down to the dust” (44:25a). A key difference between Psalms 42 and 43 and Psalm 44 is the shift from first-person singular to first-person plural. Psalms 42 and 43 express the sorrow of an individual, while Psalm 44 expresses the sorrow of a community—a faithful remnant. Psalm 44 begins with a confession of God’s faithfulness to His people (44:1-8), then moves to the confusion over how to make sense of God’s actions as they faced defeat and disgrace (44:9-16), before concluding with cries for God to intervene for the sake of His steadfast love (44:17-26).
Psalm 44 opens by underscoring the testimony of God’s faithfulness. The Psalmist recalls past works of the LORD, “O God, we have heard with our ears, our father’s have told us” (44:1a) The Psalmist’s forefathers had faithfully passed on the accounts of the LORD’s faithfulness, as they were instructed to do (See Deuteronomy 6:1-9). The accounts that they passed on emphasized the LORD’s actions: “what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them” (44:1b-3). From the Patriarchs, to the Exodus from Egypt, to the preservation in the wilderness, to the entrance and establishment in the Promised Land, the LORD has been faithful to all his promises. The LORD shone His glorious, life-blessing face toward His people, simply because he delighted in them.
As the past faithfulness of the LORD has been recalled, the present generation of the LORD’s people expressed their devoted allegiance and dependence: “You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us” (44:4-7). With repeated terms, “salvation,” “save,” and “saved,” the saving work of God is stressed. The Psalmist declares the LORD’s praiseworthiness: “In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah” (44:8).
But at this point the tone of Psalm 44 dramatically shifts: “But you have rejected us and disgraced us” (44:9a). As the Psalmist continues, the imagery that he unfolds suggests that a great defeat at the hands of their enemies had occurred: “and have not gone out with our armies. You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil. You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations. You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them” (44:9b-12). The devastating defeat has given rise to their being disgraced: “You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger” (44:13-16). Instead of being “my treasured possession among all peoples” (See Exodus 19:5), they had become a reproach to the nations. The Psalmist is clear about who has brought this defeat and subsequent disgrace upon them—the LORD did this to them.
What had become of the Psalmist and his people sends the message that they were the wicked who deserved destruction. To grasp the significance of what the Psalmist is describing, it would be helpful to back up and remember that the terms of the Mosaic Covenant promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (See Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). With the Psalmist just stating devoted allegiance and dependence upon the LORD (44:4-8), the challenge is to make sense of the description of curse and the absence of blessing. This confusion is what the Psalmist is struggling to make sense of and thus, why he is pouring out his complaint to the LORD. What the Psalmist and his people are experiencing is not commensurate with what the LORD had promised.
Perhaps the best explanation as to why a covenantally faithful people are experiencing the curses and not the blessings of the covenant is that the Psalmist is speaking on behalf of a small remnant of faithful, who are nevertheless experiencing the consequences incurred by a nation of people who had acted sinfully and thus broken the covenant. While a remnant has been faithful to the covenant, the majority had been unfaithful. And while we cannot place Psalm 44 in any particular historical context, we do have numerous occasions in the Old Testament that illustrate that the faithful of the nation would experience the curses incurred by the unfaithful of that nation. From the nations early defeat at Ai during the conquest Joshua led entering the Promised Land (See Joshua 7), all the way till the exile of Judah and their deportation to Babylon (See 2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 52), both the faithful and the unfaithful were placed or removed from the Land as a whole.
The Psalmist restated his covenant faithfulness: “All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way” (44:17-18). The defeat and disgrace described in Psalm 44 is due to those who forgot God, but a faithful remnant had neither forgotten the LORD nor turned from His way. The Psalmist is appealing to the LORD that the punishment that he and his people have experienced is unjust: “yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart” (44:19-21). Though they have not been unfaithful, a remnant is being treated as though they were: “Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (44:23). This difficult reality does not cause the remnant to abandon God, but in fact, to cry out to Him all the more.
That the Psalmist is appealing what he perceives to be unjust treatment to the LORD, assumes that he is confident that the LORD is just. In fact, the Psalmist’s plea reveals a conviction that God is just: “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground” (44:23-25). The Psalmist is stirred to ask the LORD to alleviate his and the remnant’s undue defeat and disgrace. He is stirred to ask because of what he knows to be true about the LORD. In the past, the LORD turned His face toward His people (44:3). For reasons unclear to him, the Psalmist believes that the LORD, at present, had turned away from His people (44:9). But the Psalmist believes that this is not the way the LORD wants things to be; so he asks the LORD, “why do you hide your face?” The Psalmist not only believes that the LORD is just, he is also convinced that the LORD loves His people: “Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!” (44:26). The Psalmist’s faith shows itself to be persistent in how it clings to the steadfast love of God. After all, its a love that won’t let go. In other words, a persistent faith originates in God’s persistent love.
As we reflect on Psalm 44, we can consider the Apostle Paul’s use of Psalm 44 in Romans 8. As the Apostle Paul accentuates the power of Christ’s love for His people, as well as the assurance that Christ will empower His people to overcome, he sandwiches a quote from Psalm 44 into his argument: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?…As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39, with verse 36 quoting Psalm 44:22). Paul links together the inseparability of Christ’s love and the sufferings of Christ’s people. In fact, notice how Psalm 44:22 is stated in its original setting as well as how Paul quotes it: “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” Underscore the phrase, “for your sake.” Christ’s people suffer precisely because we are Christ’s people. Our sufferings are not a punishment but a mark of loyalty as we walk in the steps of a suffering Savior: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (See 1 Peter 4:13).
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Wednesday, April 1, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Friday, April 3, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 45.