Message - Psalm 44 Sons Of Korah - Two Sides Of Life Series

TWO SIDES OF LIFE MESSAGE PSALM 44 SONS OF KORAH

Ron Ferguson ronaldf@aapt.net.au

Psa. 44 For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

Psalm 44 v 1 O God, we have heard with our ears; our fathers have told us, the work that You did in their days, in the days of old. Psa. 44:2 You with Your own hand drove out the nations. Then You planted them. You afflicted the peoples, then You spread them abroad. (NASB throughout)

These Psalms with the title “The Sons of Korah” were written by a godly and talented group of singers who did the services in the Tabernacle in King David’s time and earlier. They bring out the loveliness of the Lord, and His goodness to Israel. There are 11 of these Psalms.

In verse 2, the 2nd person pronoun is used 5 times. I hope your version translates it that way as well. That is no literary device or just an accident of words. The Holy Spirit wants to focus in on what God does, and not just on what man does, or on what man receives. Verse 2 looks back at the settlement in Canaan and speaks of the way God prospered the nation of Israel. The short summary of that verse is that God drove out the godless heathen and planted Israel.

I might say that biblical critics reject these verses and point to a merciless God. They read of Joshua’s conquests and call the bible barbaric. They don’t call the heathen nations that attacked Israel, barbaric. Satan will always lead an attack on God’s own people while supporting God’s enemies. Has anything changed today? The bible study people know that a constant reign of rockets – about 225 a day - fall on Israeli territory, Iranian rockets fired by the PLO. As soon as Israel seeks to defend itself, the world press is in uproar and Israel is condemned. Yet nothing is said about Palestinian atrocities.

When we consider verse 1 we see the importance of factual accounts of the past. Never neglect history. Does this world ever learn by history? I think we can say that history teaches us that we never learn from history! For the Christian, all God’s doing in history in the past, is for our benefit. Israel never learned from its past. We see this over and over in Israel's history as we study the Prophets. The past must instruct us or we will fail in the future. The Old Testament is 4 000 years of instruction, (written over 1 500 years) telling of failure, victory and support. What is the importance of the Old Testament? That question is answered in the New Testament as it testifies to the Old Testament. 2Timothy 3 v 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 2Tim 3:17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. In the church there is a woeful neglect of the Old Testament, and the churches fail because they do not learn from God’s past dealings with people and nations. In our Psalm the Psalmist testified to the instruction of the past.

Psalm 44 v 3 “By their own sword they did not possess the land, and their own arm did not save them, but Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your presence, for You favoured them.” That verse is badly written in the NASB, the ESV, and not much better in the NIV. Here is the Berean Study Bible – “For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory; it was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face; for You delighted in them.” The verse is absolutely correct in its emphasis. Those heathen nations of the land could not be defeated by human endeavour or wisdom or by power. It was only God in His might that would accomplish anything. We call to mind the Old Testament verses confirming that - 1Sam 2 v 9 “He keeps the feet of His godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. And Zechariah 4 v 6 Then he answered and said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

Joshua at Jericho obeyed the command of the Lord and marched around 7 times. Gideon obeyed the voice of the Lord and ended with only 300 men for a decisive battle. These men of faith knew what it was to trust the Lord, for it was only with God, that victory lay. On the other hand, King Saul trusted no one but himself, and took the sacred Ark of the Covenant to lead the battle against the Philistines, and that resulted in a overwhelming defeat with the Ark captured by the Philistines, and Saul and his son Jonathon being killed. Saul thought his own sword would gain victory. Please remember our victory is not through activity, but it is by faith. The words “By faith” are used 20 times in chapter 11 of Hebrews and the last verse of chapter 10. Here is the closing summary - Hebrews 11 v 32 "What more shall I say for time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, Heb. 11:33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, Heb. 11:34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Heb. 11:35 Women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection." We walk by faith and not by sight. We live by faith, not by the activity of the flesh. We at this fellowship must trust God for the future. There are things we must do but we must wait on the Lord for the increase.