Here’s a psalm for those experiencing Jesus’ words, “In the world you will have tribulation” (Jn 16:33).
We’ve been regaled with exploits from the good ol’ days, Lord. “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, the deeds You did…in days of old” (Ps 44:1). They made sure we knew that “You drove out the nations with Your hand,…You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,…but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them” (vv 2-3). Now some things are different about our day and theirs, but one thing’s the same. “You are my King, O God” (v 4). You’re the same, O Elohim! Therefore we should expect that You will “command victories for Jacob.…In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever” (vv 4, 8). It should be like that, “but You have cast us off and put us to shame” (v 9). Then follows a litany of the worst calamities: “scattered…reproach…scorn…derision…dishonor… shame” (vv 11-15). Routed in the battlefield. Stripped of our goods. Sold in the slave market. Scattered among the Gentiles. A nickname for disaster. I know what you’re thinking. It’s because they abandoned the Lord. Not so, says the psalmist. “We have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way” (vv 17-18). “If we had…would not God search this out?” (vv 20-21). So what’s the problem? Those familiar with the New Testament are given a big clue. “Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (v 22; see Rom 8:36). They were bearing reproach, as we can, for the Lord! So we pray to God for His suffering people today: “Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake” (v 26).