Our psalm today may be divided into three portions. Verses one to eight concern the glorious past history of Israel. Verses nine to sixteen concern the psalmist's disastrous present. And verses seventeen to twenty-six are a prayer for the future. Like many psalms, the honesty of the psalmist's emotions underlines the sincerity of his questions. The heart wrenching question foremost in this psalm is summarized in verse twenty-two:"Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
While the psalmist does not fully develop this theme, Paul picks it up and explains it in Romans 8: 35-37:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
So we see that the psalmist's question is answered in God's own time. And like the soldier in the midst of modern battle, who must wait to hear the verdict of history, all those who serve our Lord and Savior often times do not realize the outcome of their hard service and sometime suffering. This is the idea that our psalmist is pursuing in this psalm. Let us follow this theme as this Son of Korah develops it.
In the opening section of eight verses the psalmist outlines the provident leadership and kindly provision of Israel's Father God. These are the lessons of history that the psalmist tells us were handed down from Father to Son. This first section is summed up in verse eight where we see that Israel's boast ought only to be in the Lord, as His people praise His name forever. This verse is set apart with the note "Selah" which means the reader ought to meditate on the teachings carefully. In the same way as ancient Israel, we today ought to consider the Lord's founding of our own country.
We come to the depressing second portion of this psalmist's lament. Here the patriot poet begins to contrast the glorious past with the sadness of Israel in his lifetime. We can see the deepening darkness of that time in the progression of verses nine through fourteen. Verse fifteen sums up the emotions of this section. Our psalmist takes the national disgrace personally and feels the taunts of the wicked cut into his own heart. Here our psalmist bottoms out, he has lost all confidence and is utterly demoralized. I can well remember the complaints of a friend a few years ago who wondered what had happened to the glories of Christ's Church in his long lifetime. What had happened, he asked? Where there were once several healthy Reformed congregations in his county, there was hardly any Reformed witness left at all.
This brings us to the third portion of this psalm. O Lord, my friend asked, what have we done or what have we failed to do? His little congregation has been faithful in prayer most of this century, yet the fortunes of both church and community seem to become worse with every passing year.
Derek Kidner in his commentary on these passages says that the important fact that needs to be noted here, is that God's apparent withdrawal when His people were still praying, should be seen in the light of Paul's appreciation of the teachings in this psalm. We, who serve the Lord faithfully even to the point of wounds and on occasion death, do so for His sake. And even as we participate in the lessons of history, we know that the final victory will be His and His alone. God will not be hurried to do what we expect Him to do. Our psalm explores the baffling fluctuations in the fortunes of Christ's own Churches down through the centuries.
The periods of time when the Gospel is in season are contrasted with other seasons when there is little interest or impact. The little island of Britain has been evangelized three times in history and is in desperate need of a fourth revival in our own time. By God's grace, both the Old and New Covenant Churches grew across many centuries. Our job is to serve our Lord faithfully and like our psalmist we should earnestly pray for the future.
At one time I encouraged several of my serious history students to join in the struggle to turn the wheels of time in directions that they should like to see events go. Today, I would give different advice. Once we realize our utter weakness and our inability to make a personal difference, the more likely we can begin to pray that God will accomplish what we cannot. Is this not where our psalmist arrives at the end of this National Lament?
"Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love."
May this be our prayer and may this be our Lord's accomplishment. Amen.
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