All this happened to us,
though we had not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?
25 We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us;
redeem us because of your unfailing love.
The way the Old Covenant was set up was obedience brought about blessing, disobedience brought punishment. And yet in this Psalm we see not a familiar denial of God as Lord, but a faithful people who are suffering through much pain for reasons that are beyond them. They are bold enough to lay their hearts bare before God...and yet faithful enough to know that nothing will deliver them from this moment but the Lord Himself. So often we attribute our suffering to the enemy and to demons and such (which I believe in fully). But in 1 John 2:13, 14 we read that we have overcome the evil one. That like Job, Satan has no power over us, evil has no power over us except what God allows for our sake. We do battle a sinful nature- but our new heart is pure. Our new heart is not under the control of Satan. So when we suffer we must turn to God and rely on Him. Our hearts will be purified in suffering and we will grow like never before, but only if we are like the Psalmist...brought down to the dust, bodies clinging to the ground...knowing that only the hand of God will lift us from the mud and mire and set our feet on solid ground, whether in this life or the next.
