Remembering who God is in your life

Remembering who God is in your life

S - Psalm 44 (NIV)

1We have heard it with our ears, O God;

our ancestors have told us

what you did in their days,

in days long ago.

2With your hand you drove out the nations

and planted our ancestors;

you crushed the peoples

and made our ancestors flourish.

3It was not by their sword that they won the land,

nor did their arm bring them victory;

it was your right hand, your arm,

and the light of your face, for you loved them.

4You are my King and my God,

who decreesc victories for Jacob.

5Through you we push back our enemies;

through your name we trample our foes.

6I put no trust in my bow,

my sword does not bring me victory;

7but you give us victory over our enemies,

you put our adversaries to shame.

8In God we make our boast all day long,

and we will praise your name forever.d

9But now you have rejected and humbled us;

you no longer go out with our armies.

10You made us retreat before the enemy,

and our adversaries have plundered us.

11You gave us up to be devoured like sheep

and have scattered us among the nations.

12You sold your people for a pittance,

gaining nothing from their sale.

13You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,

the scorn and derision of those around us.

14You have made us a byword among the nations;

the peoples shake their heads at us.

15I live in disgrace all day long,

and my face is covered with shame

16at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,

because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

17All this came upon us,

though we had not forgotten you;

we had not been false to your covenant.

18Our hearts had not turned back;

our feet had not strayed from your path.

19But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals;

you covered us over with deep darkness.

20If we had forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21would not God have discovered it,

since he knows the secrets of the heart?

22Yet for your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?

Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.

24Why do you hide your face

and forget our misery and oppression?

25We are brought down to the dust;

our bodies cling to the ground.

26Rise up and help us;

rescue us because of your unfailing love.

O - This psalm comes at a time when the Israelites had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, and wandered the desert, and delivered into the promised land.  They pretty much had experience all of God’s awesomeness and yet, still found themselves periodically not feeling Gods full favor because they had wandered from Him.    The prayer in this psalm is honest and vulnerable, confessing their need for God,  and a confession of their cause of the separation.

A - The application for me is to recognize my own tendency to though I love and follow God , find myself seperated and desperate for Him to save me.   I too have received great miraculous signs and wonders, and yet can forget God and who He is in my life.   I currently face a challenge at times that I thought I was finished in the Navy as a Captain.   I felt all those around me wanted me out, and that I could no longer do anything to change that, but God had a plan.   He saved me , from myself, my enemies, because He has a plan for me.   I only need to seek him and follow Him daily.

P - Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for today’s lesson , may it be sealed to my heart.  I pray Lord that you would help me rid myself of the selfish pride that leads to me not relying on you, but on myself.  I pray Lord that you help me navigate the narrow and treacherous waters at work to glorify you and what you are allowing me to do to honor you.  I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.