October 25
________________________________________PLEA FOR DELIVERANCE AND FOR GOD’S LOVINGKINDNESS
All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,
And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
And our steps have not deviated from Your way,
19 Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
Or extended our hands to a strange god,
21 Would not God find this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 But for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not reject us forever.
24 Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our body cleaves to the earth.
26 Rise up, be our help,
And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.- Psalm 44:17-26
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In this psalm, the author pleads God to act and end their misery in the hands of the enemy. In verse 17, he declares that the people of God have not forgotten Him and in verse 18, reiterates their faithfulness to Him. In verse 19, we hear the voice of humankind’s limited understanding why God allows suffering in the hands of the enemy. In verse 20-21, the psalmist clearly knows his God. He knows that God sees everything and yet he is baffled why God has not followed through with his faithfulness to deliver them from the hands of their enemy’s cruelty. In verse 22, he tells God about the persecution being done to God’s people and in verse 23, he pleads God to rise up to deliver them from such sufferings. Many Christians forget that suffering is part of being a true disciple. Without it, we will not learn to endure and grow our faith.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it hard for many of us to understand the concept behind suffering?