Photo by Sander Crombach on Unsplash
We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
The deeds You did in their days,
In days of old:
2 You drove out the nations with Your hand,
But them You planted;
You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.
3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them;
But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,
Because You favored them.
4 You are my King, O God;
Command victories for Jacob.
5 Through You we will push down our enemies;
Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor shall my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our enemies,
And have put to shame those who hated us.
8 In God we boast all day long,
And praise Your name forever. Selah
9 But You have cast us off and put us to shame,
And You do not go out with our armies.
10 You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
11 You have given us up like sheep intended for food,
And have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sell Your people for next to nothing,
And are not enriched by selling them.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scorn and a derision to those all around us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 My dishonor is continually before me,
And the shame of my face has covered me,
16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
Because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come upon us;
But we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps departed from Your way;
19 But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
21 Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Arise! Do not cast us off forever.
24 Why do You hide Your face,
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.
26 Arise for our help,
And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.
By Mike Chaffin
The Sons of Korah have another hit on their hands. This national song of lament was sung when tough times hit. Although the exact date of its writing is uncertain the preponderance of evidence points to the period of the Assyrian assault on Judah. Judah was unable to stop the Assyrian advance on Jerusalem. They defeated all the land leading up to the siege of Jerusalem. This song was likely penned during this invasion as a national lament and call to return to the God of their fathers.
The first verse holds a key to the current travails compared to their past. These sons of Korah haven’t experienced victory, but their fathers have told them about how God led their ancestors as they entered, and captured, the promised land. God commands we do the same as these fathers. We are to tell our children about the goodness of God and the wonderful things He has done for His own. Our children may not be experiencing victory, but they need to know how to keep the faith even in adversity. So bad are the current circumstances the people cry out in this lament for God’s mercy.
Truly the Bible does teach that bad things do happen to good people. God used the Assyrians to remove sinful Israel from the land and to call Judah back to Him. In this assault King Hezekiah led the Israelites back from the brink of extinction into a short-lived national revival. God heard their prayers and turned the Assyrians around. Jerusalem was saved.
God can turn the worst circumstances into the most precious gift. Jesus death on the cross is one such event. The Apostle Paul waxed eloquent about this Psalm, quoting verse 25, in Romans 8,
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39
Notice Paul doesn’t say Christ will keep bad things from happening to us and around us, but that none of these things is powerful enough to separate us from Christ’s love for us. I too am persuaded like Paul to rest on that promise. The Sons of Korah knew the best way to get through bad times is to seek God and worship Him in song and prayer.
