Slaughtered yet Loved

Psalms 44:20‭-‬23

If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!

...............

On first glance, this Psalm appears to be a simple cry for help. The psalmist is clearly in the depths of despair, feeling abandoned by God. There is a familiar pattern we see in many of the laments. The structure of the poem breaks down like this:

A recounting of God's past faithfulness (v. 1-8)
An accusation of God's present rejection (v. 9-22)
A plea for God's future deliverance (v. 23-26)

Granted, no painful crisis is simple, and pleading for God's intervention is not all that simple either. We are reminded again of the importance of remembering God's real intervening actions in times past. We are reminded that great men and women of faith had times of real doubting and even voiced honest accusations in prayer to God. God can handle our honesty, and that is often the path of reflection that reconnects us to our merciful Savior in the midst of deep pain. He empathizes with our weakness and temptations because he too bore them in Christ.

But compared to other Psalms, this does not appear to break new ground or reveal anything new about who God is or what he has accomplished. That is, until you recognize how this Psalm is quoted by Paul in Romans 8. Let's focus there for a moment:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35‭-‬39)

This passage in Romans is one of the richest promises in all of Scripture. The assurance and permanence of the love of Christ is described with absolute certainty, no matter the circumstance. And here we find that the more we grasp the depths of Psalm 44, the more rich and relieving this promise becomes.

That must have been Paul's intention. His Jewish audience should have been familiar with this painful Psalm and the emotions it would invoke. And despite the sense of rejection the persecuted Roman Christians felt, God had not fallen asleep or forgotten his precious children. Nothing, absolutely nothing in all creation, could separate them from the love of God now fully revealed in the finished work of Christ.

Lord, help me to bring my crisis to you in honest prayer. I am weak and short-sighted. Help me to see and believe that you remain faithful even in this hard time. And I know this is true because you have offered your Son who has conquered death and now lives in me. All I have and all I will ever need is found in you:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31‭-‬32)

In the Hands of God

John 10:27-30

My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.

...............

Assurance.

I believe that assurance and confidence in the truth of our salvation comes from simply answering these two questions:

1. What do you know about the reality of God and his love for you?
2. How do you know that this reality is true and is yours?

We all have asked these questions, but perhaps in different words. Am I alone in the universe? Does anyone care for me? Will justice ever be done for me? Will the wrongs be made right? Why should I trust God to protect me or rescue me from troubles? Why pray for help? Does he see me? Does he know me?

We can answer these with cliches, but that can soothe us for only so long. The human heart is restless and will not settle for cheap answers. Our minds search and test every truth claim, hungering for a solid foundation upon which to build a happy life.

Many today believe that no such foundation exists. That leaves them with a choice between despair or fantasy. Most choose fantasy - creating our own sense of meaning out of thin air or from very subjective and tenuous wishful thinking. There is no proof for a loving God, so I will find my purpose in my career, my art, my friends, my community, in nature, in politics, in charitable work.... All good things that bring joy, but none of them are ultimate and all of them leave us hungry still.

If we cannot quench this hunger with what we find on earth, isn't it entirely logical there is something more out there? As Lewis said, "If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world."

But what is this deeper world, what is it like, and how can I have assurance that it is real and that I can access it myself? Those are the key questions, and John 10 gives incredible answers.

What is the truth? Jesus is God, the final picture of God, completely one with the Father, the One who knows us completely, who has offered his life to bridge the chasm between us, and who has taken up his life again, risen from the dead to ensure eternal life for his precious children.

How do we know this is true and applies to me? His sheep hear his voice and answer his call. To those who hear that Jesus died and rose again so that they can have eternal life, to those whose hearts are compelled by that demonstration of love, they receive a promise of life that will never perish! He proved this love on the cross. He proved his divinity by rising again. These are historical facts recorded and preserved by martyrs and heroes of faith for over 2,000 years.

And the Spirit of God himself lives in those who respond to this message, continuing to affirm and bring confidence day by day. Confidence not in ourselves, or even in the strength of our faith. But confidence in the certainty and compelling power of a love unmatched and a promise that cannot be shaken.

No one can snatch his children from his omnipotent hand. This passage refers to both the hand of Jesus and the hand of the Father, as if two almighty hands were completely enfolding us. What could possibly harm or endanger us while we rest in these everlasting arms? Consider the finality and assurance of this promise and walk in the absolute freedom that it provides. A secure foundation. Eternal and unchanging.

Because God wanted to show His unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath,  so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.  We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. (Hebrews 6:17-19)

Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus,  by a new and living way He has opened for us through the curtain (that is, His flesh ), and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.  Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:19-23)