“Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever. Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul has sunk down into the dust; our body cleaves to the earth. Rise up, be our help, and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness” (Psa 44:23–26).
In terms of vocabulary, Psalms 44 and 46 are very similar. In terms of situation, they are miles apart. In Psalm 44, the psalmist laments that God IS NOT WITH Israel’s army, and they have experienced a humiliating defeat (Psa 44:9). In Psalm 46, God is the LORD of ARMIES who is WITH US, and He makes wars cease to the end of the earth by destroying the weapons of the enemy (Psa 46:9). In Psalm 44:26, the psalmist cries out for God to “rise up,” and in Psalm 46:10 [11], He is exalted in all the earth. In Psalm 44:26, the psalmist cries out to the distant God to be their HELP, and in Psalm 46:1, 5, the psalmist celebrates God as a very present HELP in times of trouble, in the midst of Jerusalem.
O dear friend, look full into the face of God’s Messiah, and the troubles of this world will grow strangely dim.
There is little doubt that Psalms 44 and 46 are intentionally related, with Psalm 44 expressing cries for help and Psalm 46 praising God for His answer. The answer, moreover, is far more than the psalmist could ask or imagine: the redeemed and renewed Jerusalem.
But these drastically different before–and–after pictures raise important questions: How did this happen? What made the difference? It cannot be a coincidence that the author of the Psalter separated two very similar psalms and placed Psalm 45 between them. Thus, Psalm 45 draws special attention and demands our exegetical attention. Indeed, it does, for it is a love song written in honor of Israel’s Messianic King.
In my personal experience, it was when I discovered the beauty of Yeshua the Messiah that God transformed my Psalm 44 emptiness into Psalm 46 fullness and peace. O dear friend, look full into the face of God’s Messiah, and the troubles of this world will grow strangely dim.
