The Danger of Trusting ‘Feelings’! Psalm 44:9-16

Text: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart (essence of being); and lean not unto thine own understanding (feelings?)  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6.

Good morning, sensitive Christian!  By God’s grace, and throughout our varied and often chequered experiences in life, you and I have become quite sensitive; quite perceptive; and deeply aware of how we are to assess situations and evaluate the circumstances we encounter.

Praise God that you and I have gained understanding of life by the varied experiences we have had.  However, as sincere and serving Christians, we must beware of not permitting our ‘natural feelings’, or ‘ human perceptions’ to detract from the facts of our God-given faith! 

God’s Word alone is our clear Authority for all things pertaining to Christian faith and the daily practice of that wonderful gift of God.  (Psalm 119:105)

Verses 9 to 16: Throughout verses 9 to 16 of Psalm 44, we find the Psalmist falling into the trap of relying on his feelings; his human perceptions – and by doing so, coming to wrong conclusions which only serve to detract from and undermine his faith in God.  Christian, beware!

God-breathed (inspired) Scriptures clearly teach us that the Lord will never leave us, or cast off ‘His people’.  Yet, leaning on his own understanding, and trusting what he is feeling at the time – the Psalmist makes his erroneous complaints to God:

Verse 9. “But Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame.”  God’s Word teaches us that He will never leave us nor forsake us; that He will in no wise cast us out.  Feeling cast off by God, flies in the face of His own Word on the matter!  Only believe.  We who are saved Christians must fully trust, at all times, in the revealed and inspired Word of God.

“...I will never leave thee; nor forsake thee.  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”  (Hebrews 13:5-6)

“All that the Father giveth Me (Christ Jesus) shall come to Me; and him/her that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  (John 6:37)

Verse 9.  “...And goeth not forth with our armies.  God does not promise to ‘go forth’ with our carnal and puny human armies!   If redeemed by Christ’s Blood, we are called to go forth in His Name, and be an integral part of HIS army, the Church.  The Lord God is not going to wage any war based on fallen, and all too often greedy and selfish human demands.  We are called to go forth as part of His Spiritual army, inspired by His infallible Word; led and directed by His Holy Spirit.  When we do so, we are always fully assured of Victory in Christ.  Hallelujah!  Worthy is the Lamb, Christ Jesus!  In Him we have the Victory!

“These things have I (Christ Jesus) spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)  

Verse 10. “Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy.  The only time ‘the enemy’ can force you and I as Christians to ‘turn back’ in retreat, is when we go against ‘the enemy’ – the world, the flesh, and the Devil – in our own puny and natural strength!  Flesh will fail us every time!

Verse 11.  “And hast scattered us among the heathen.  Yes, we have been ‘scattered among the heathen’, but in a most Divine and positive manner and for the highest Eternal purpose!  We who are Bible-believing Christians are strewn like ‘salt’ among the nations of the world in order that we might be witnesses for the risen Christ Jesus and reach His ‘elect’ souls with the Gospel message of Salvation through His Sacrifice alone!  Glory to God for His wisdom!

“But ye (regenerate souls) shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8)

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20)”

“And they (Christ’s disciples/apostles), continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favour with the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”  (Acts 2:46-47))

Verse 11. “And hast scattered us among the heathen.  All this is ascribed to the Lord, as being allowed by Him, and even appointed by His decrees.  It is well to trace the hand of God in our sorrows, for it is surely there.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 211)

Verse 12. “Thou sellest Thy people for nought. Referring to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, Eusebius says: ‘Many were sold for a small price; there were many to be sold, but few to buy.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 211)

Verse 13. “A scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. To be a derision to both strong and weak, superiors, equals, and inferiors, is hard to bear.  The tooth of scoffing bites to the bone.

Verse 14. “Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.  The world knows not its nobility; it has no eye for true excellence: it found a cross for the Master and cannot be expected to award crowns to His disciples.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 211)

While the Psalmist is experiencing very real sufferings, as here described, yet he is allowing what he sees with his physical eyes to blind him to what he should be seeing with the eyes of his God-given faith!  

The world and the Devil will gang up with our own puny flesh to fool us into seeing only the troubles and oppositions all around us daily, while seeking to blind us to the victory we have in Chris Jesus.  We must always use our Spiritual vision to fight our way through to the foot of the Cross.  There it is that we shall always find relief, and strength anew to go forth in the service of King Jesus Christ.  Praise and all glory to His Victorious Name!

Thought: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart (essence of being); and lean not unto thine own understanding (feelings?)  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”  Let us lean wholly on the facts of our faith.    (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Victory: In the Name of the Lord Psalm 44:4-8

Text: “Wherefore God (the Father) also hath highly exalted Him (God the Son), and given Him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:9-11.

Good morning, victorious Christian!  Just like the boy, David, who went up against the giant Philistine, Goliath of Gath – you and I are victorious when we go up to fight our ‘giants’ in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of all kings, and the Lord of all so-called lords.  Hallelujah!  We have consistent victory, when our Spiritual battles are fought in and under the Name of the Lord God’s banner of righteousness.  All glory to the Lamb Who is worthy!

Verse 4. “Thou art my King, O God.  Born again Christians, can be of many and diverse nationalities, colour of skin; rich or poor; highly educated and uneducated – yet we all have this one necessary thing in common: we own the Lord God Jehovah as our Sovereign Lord and our King.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the King of all kings, and the Lord of all lords.  Praise His Name!

Verse 4.  “...Command deliverances for Jacob.  Note that it is plural ‘deliverances’ we, God’s people, need.  Our enemies are multiplied, our perils are sore; thus, because the Lord God Jehovah is our King, we pray that, as a truly Sovereign Lord God, He will ‘command deliverances’ for us.  At His will, all oppositions and powers must give way.  God’s will must, and shall be done.  Glory to His Omnipotent Name!

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”           (Romans 8:37)

“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.”  (2 Peter 2:9)

Verse 5. “Through Thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us.  Mark well that all the conquests of these believers are said to be ‘through Thee,’ ‘through Thy Name’; never let us forget this, lest going a warfare at our own charges, we fail most ignominiously.  Let us not, however, fall into the equally dangerous sin of distrust, for the Lord can make the weakest of us equal to any emergency.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 210)

“Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross; lift high His royal banner; it must not suffer loss...Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone; the arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.”

Verse 6. “For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.  Arm of flesh, how dare I trust thee?  How dare I bring upon myself the curse of those who rely upon man?”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 210)

How often in times of blatant provocation, under extreme torments from worldlings living all around me, have I been sorely tempted to raise the arm of my flesh in order to quell the persistent provocations and annoyances of the world!  Yet, the Lord God has shown me - time and time again – that if I wait patiently for His perfect timing, He will put an stop to the ridicule, slander, and torment.  It has been truly wonderful to see the Almighty Lord God condescending to come to the aid of someone like me, the very least of Christ’s Flock.  Thanks be to God, Amen!

“The less confidence we have in ourselves or in anything beside God, the more evidence have we of the sincerity of our faith in God.”  (David Dickson 1583-1662)

Verse 7. “But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.  We who are Spiritually regenerate Christians must at all times seek to apply the Word of God to the events of our day to day experience of life. 

Thus, I remember well some years ago, when living in a large Social Housing Estate here in Northern Ireland, UK;  my wife and young daughter and I were being tormented continually by unruly next door neighbours who had moved in to what had become a ‘private rental dwelling’.

 These young guys did not appear through the day but, like social vampires, only seemed to come to life after traditional work-hours had ended.  Then, they were intent on opening up their rented dwelling to every malcontent, every drunkard; everyone intent on pushing substances up their noses or into their arms or lungs in order to make them go out of their tiny minds!

It became absolutely intolerable for us as a quiet Christian family to live next door to this constant social disorder and annoyance.  Life, for us, became a mere waiting for the next inevitable ‘party’, accompanied by all-night music; noise; and often hand to hand fighting in the tiny street right outside our front door and under the bedroom where we were trying desperately to get some sleep.

Given my terrible background in extreme violence and eventual terrorism – my Christian faith in God was being tested sore most nights of the week; as the Devil and my own natural flesh tempted me to go next door with a heavy stick to clear out the malcontents from their filthy drug and alcohol-fuelled den.  So often I lay Spiritually wrestling with my old nature which lusted to go and ‘sort this situation out’ once and for all.  The extreme pressures of my self-restraint was causing my very health to fail, and I admit, I was ‘at my wits end’.

Then, just when I began to think that I had no other option but to go next door, confront and, with use of extreme violence, physically toss our tormentors out (wrecking my Christian witness and testimony for Christ in the process, of course!) – the Lord’s hand worked in a truly marvellous manner to end our torture and deliver us from our worldly enemies.

The Lord throughout Scripture often uses weather conditions to fulfil His Divine purpose.  And so it was that our tormentors were removed from the house next door.  The Lord sent a severe cold period to Northern Ireland – snow and ice and one of the coldest Christmas periods we had had in Great Britain & Northern Ireland for many decades.

Our selfish and delinquent young neighbours spent all their Welfare Benefit allowance on booze and drugs, and thus had no notion of ‘squandering’ such financial resources on ‘foolish things’ – like home-heating fuel oil, and stuff.  Thus, when the big freeze came, all the water-pipes in that house burst wide open, flooded the entire house; and made it uninhabitable for tenants!  Hallelujah!  Praise God, the anti-social next door neighbours were immediately evicted, the landlord who had carelessly rented his accommodation to those totally irresponsible young tenants, was out a small fortune in house-repairs – and the raucous drug and alcohol partying came to an end.    The Lord God is not mocked, especially when ‘His people’ are being hurt.

Verse 7. “But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us."    

Thought: ‘Waiting’ for the Lord’, can be difficult – but His timing is always perfect.  ‘Weeping may endure for a night...joy cometh in the morning’, when we wait on God.

Human Will, Working with Divine Grace? Psalm 44:1-3

Text: “For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favour unto them.”

Psalm 44:3.

          “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: Thou hast the dew of Thy youth.”

Psalm 110:3.

Good morning, Christian made willing by grace!  The power of the Lord God, the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Divine Godhead, not only called you and I effectually unto Eternal Salvation by grace, but empowered us by His gift of faith to believe (trust) in Christ and by His full Atonement Sacrifice at Golgotha’s Cross, be Eternally saved and secured.  Wow!  What a Lord God of Sovereign grace and mercy we serve, in Christ Jesus!

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified (just-as-if-I’d-never sinned) by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of Eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7)

Fallen human will is made alive by God’s grace to, from thence, work together with Divine grace and power to fulfil the Divine and Sovereign Eternal purpose of the Lord God.

“Psalm 44, Title: “To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.”  The title is similar to the Forty-Second Psalm, and although this is no proof that it is by the same author, it makes it highly probable.  No other writer should be sought for to father any of the Psalms when David will suffice, and therefore we are loath to ascribe this sacred song to any but the great Psalmist, yet as we hardly know any period of his life which it would fairly describe, we feel compelled to look elsewhere.  The last verses remind us of Milton’s famous lines on the massacre of the Protestants among the mountains of Piedmont.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 210)

 “On the Late Massacre in Piedmont

On the Late Massacre in Piedmont is a sonnet by the English poet John Milton inspired by the massacre of Waldensians in Piedmont by the troops of Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy in April 1655. In 1487, shortly after the Crusades in Southern France, Pope Innocent VIII turned his focus to the Waldensians in Northern Italy. The group was excommunicated from the church after refusing to conform to Catholicism. A series of attacks were made on the group before Charles I, Duke of Savoy intervened to bring peace to his lands.” (Wikipedia online)

“S. Ambrose observes that in former Psalms we have seen a prophecy of Christ’s passion, resurrection, and ascension, and of the coming of the Holy Ghost, and that here we are taught that we ourselves must be ready to struggle and suffer in order that these things may profit us.  Human will must work together with Divine grace.”  (Christopher Wordsworth 1848-1938)

“Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: Thou hast the dew of Thy youth.” (Psalm 110:3)

Verse 1. “We have heard with our ears, O God.  To hear with the ears affects us more sensitively than to read with the eyes; we ought to note this and seize every possible opportunity of telling abroad the Gospel of our Lord Jesus viva voce (by word of mouth), since this is the most telling mode of communication.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 210)

Verse 1. “...Our fathers have told us.  When fathers are tongue-tied religiously with their offspring, need they wonder if their children’s hearts remain sin-tied?  Religious conversation need not be dull, and indeed it could not be if, as in this case, it dealt more with facts and less with opinions.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 210)

Verse 1.  “...What works Thou didst.  Why only work in the singular, when such innumerable deliverances had been wrought by Him, from the passage of the red Sea to the destruction of the hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians?  Because all these were but types of that one great work, that one stretching forth of Lord’s hand, when Satan was vanquished, death destroyed, and the Kingdom of Heaven opened to all believers.”  (Ambrose 340-397)

“Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:18)

“While the songs of other nations sing of the heroism of their ancestors, the songs of Israel celebrate the works of God.”  (Augustus F. Tholuck 1799-1877)

If you and I have been gloriously and most graciously redeemed by the sinless and precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ – how can we not shout about it from the very roof-tops?

Verse 2.  “How Thou didst afflict the people and cast them out.  How fair is Mercy when she stands by the side of Justice!  Bright beams the star of grace amidst the night of wrath!  It is a solemn thought that the greatness of Divine love has its counterpart in the greatness of His indignation.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 210)

The Lord God is a Holy Lord God of absolute wrath against all sin.  Praise His Name, He is also a Lord God of infinite mercy, love, and grace towards ‘His people’, and saves us from our sin.

The Lord God, by His Sovereign will, and according to His Divine Election in Eternity, chooses whom to save, writes our names in ‘the Lamb’s Book of life’, gives us to His Son, Jesus, and the Lord Jesus redeems us from our sins by His own sinless Blood, shed for us at Calvary’s Cross.

“All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”  (John 6:37)

“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His (because He elected us to be His!), And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity.”  (2 Timothy 2:19)

Verse 3.  “For they got not the land in possession by their own sword.  The passage may be viewed as a beautiful parable of the work of Salvation; men are not saved without prayer, repentance, etc., but none of these save a man; Salvation is altogether of the Lord.  Canaan was not conquered by them; the Lord was the conqueror, and the people were but instruments in His hands.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 210)

Thought:  Mankind’s human will, after the fall of Adam from God’s grace, can do nothing but sin against His Holy Lord God.  God alone can ‘quicken’ our hearts, regenerate our spirits, and save us by His own pre-ordained Sacrifice.  God’s will is always done.