Book of Psalms - Psa. 44, vv. 1-8

Psalm 44 and the Sons of Korah

Well, we're going to be in Psalm 44. As you'll recall, we did Psalm 42, and that was kind of the start of the second book of the Psalter. And it was for the chief musician, Meshiel, which is not the name of the chief musician, but rather an instructive poem, is what that means.

And it was written for the sons of Korah, who were the ones who were singing. They were like the choir in the tabernacle, which is pretty amazing because they were descendants of a rebellious leader, someone who rebelled against Moses and Aaron.

And so we went through Psalm 42, and we learned a little bit about being masters of our own feelings, to have dominion over our feelings, so that we would not fall to the trap of discontentment, which is, of course, what Korah had fallen into.

He'd fallen into the trap of discontentment, and he had taken a couple of others with him. And then we got into Psalm 43, which was kind of a continuation of that. And that was a very short psalm. It's only five verses long, I believe it was.

It was really quite short somehow. We got a whole Sunday school out of that. But we talked about how there was a drawing closer to God, ultimately culminating in a sacrifice at the altar. And this was David, of course, longing to go back.

Well, today we're going to be in Psalm 44. So we're just going to keep on moving. You'll notice that this too is to the chief musician for the sons of Korah, Mashiel. So this is, yet again, another instructive poem.

And the sons of Korah are the ones who would have sung this poem. They were spared by the grace of God in the face of their forefather's rebellion, but now they serve the Lord in a choir. That is quite a redemption, if you think about it.

How the Sons of Korah Learn Faithfulness Through History

So what keeps them praising God and singing his psalms? If you had to guess, imagine these people who are descendants of a super rebellious leader who was discontent. The earth swallows him up whole and all of his followers, but God spares his women and children.

And so now they're descendants of this rebellious Korah. And they are singing in the choir. What do you suppose keeps them singing in the choir? What do you suppose keeps them there? This is generations later.

Yeah, I mean, here they are. There are a couple of generations removed from the actual rebellion of Korah, and here they are singing in the choir. What do you suppose keeps them there? Why don't we see them rebelling?

Reshape that. And so this could be an example of generation. It would have been more than just... It'd be more than me passing down some cool hobby or skill sets to my son. And it's like a family tradition.

It would have been more than that because it was a vocation as well. So that would have been involved as well, but then of course...

A passing on of skills as well.

A passing on of skills, a passing on of vocation, almost like a passing on of faith perhaps, but in the context of worship, and then of course grace on the family.

So there's that. So everything Ben described. And there's our whole lesson. We're done. Essentially, I think a safe word to use as to what keeps them there is history. So what you're going to see is how history plays a big part in the passing on of this generational perhaps calling, like Ben said, or vocation, or at least a generational faithfulness.

History is going to be a huge part of that. So let's get into it. To the chief musician for the Sons of Korah, Mashiel. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us. There it is. Right there, you see?

Already we have, our dads are telling us something. We've heard something. What have we heard? What work thou didst in their days in the times of old. So the dads are teaching history. They learned of their history and God's work on their people.

No doubt this history would have included the story of Korah's rebellion, his recruiting of Dathan and Abiram, and how even the families that followed Korah were swallowed up by the earth and those who thought themselves worthy to be the high priests were consumed with fire.

These were the works of God in the times of old. But, I want you to notice who is doing the teaching here. Their fathers. The most important teachers of history are dads. Specifically in the realm of history, I think dads are important for teaching everything.

That's a very important role as a father is to teach your kids. But history, in particular, is super important. I've studied a lot of history with Matty Grace and a little bit with Sam. He tends to be very good at studying it on his own.

But when it comes to biblical history, I'll study it with both of them. Pastors are great. Teachers are important. But when it comes to the passing on of spiritual history, those lessons, you can't replace the fathers.

It's so important for a son to hear from his dad how important the spiritual history lessons are. So, go to verse 2 here. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand and plantest them. How thou didst afflict the people and cast them out.

God Protects His People and Establishes Their Place

So, we've got our first history lesson here. First, it's like, okay, we've been hearing from our fathers. They told us what you did, God. What did God do? He drove out the heathen with his hand and plantest them and thou didst afflict the people and cast them out.

Now, if you read through that quickly, it all sounds kind of bad except plantest seems almost out of place. We're going to deal with that here in just a second. The first history lesson is one of protection and position and purpose.

A person needs to feel these things. They need to feel protection above all because when a person feels safe, they get bold and when they get bold they they they venture out and learn more, I guess you can say.

So, for instance, watch a kid. When they get scared what do they do? Little kid. Like these little babies running through here, right? What do they do when they get scared? Run to mommy or daddy and the very first thing they're going to do is hide behind the legs of mommy or daddy, right?

They get behind daddy's legs and they hide from danger. Now, here's a little side note here. A problem with schooling outside the home. Public, private, anything, right? When a kid gets scared their inclination is to run to mommy or daddy and if mommy and daddy are not brought into the mix there's a problem there because there's a missing component.

It removes something from the child. When we first put our kids here at Park Meadows some of the instructions were if they disobey, call me. If they get scared, call me. Like I will come and I will deal with it because they need to be able to feel like mommy or daddy are there to protect and if mommy and daddy are not there for the protection piece, they begin to close down.

This is why we see in mass so many kids who lack confidence who close down and do very little. It's one of the benefits of homeschooling actually I a lack of confidence was not a thing in the homeschool groups as I was growing up.

It was like yeah we were confident sometimes very confident in our weirdness you know like we were like boldly weird in some ways but you know what? Confidence wasn't missing why? Because we already had we knew protection was always there right?

As a kid reaches 5th through the 8th grades they fear not being accepted by their peers and what do they do? They shut down. You see shutting down on mass 6th, 7th grade I mean Sammo, Maddie Abby they have been no exception like there is a danger there and if you do not deal with that and you don't help them find true confidence then they'll be easily influenced by the world now true confidence comes from being able to run and hide behind daddy's legs.

Here's the thing daddies were only a picture of the daddy they're supposed to run to and so it is very important for them to be taught that they must run behind their heavenly father. This is the first history lesson your kid needs to learn God protects his own.

They need to learn that God and his principles have always protected those who have kept God's principles even if mommy and daddy are not around this is important and I say I say that's the first lesson.

I should probably temper that with notice. What what the sons of korah are singing here how thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand. So there's like two sides to protection. There's the part that keeps you safe and the part that makes anything that's going to threaten you not safe.

Protection isn't only about safety it's about in a sense aggression. And what we see here is the sons of korah singing about the protection from the aggression side of it. God drives out the heathen with his hand.

So kids need to learn about that dynamic. They need to learn that that exists with God. And they need to learn that God and his principles have always protected those who keep those principles even if mommy and daddy are not around.

Because there will be times when you're not around and if you're not there for them to run and hide behind your legs so to speak. Then where does the confidence go. If you want the confidence to outlast you you got to point them to an everlasting father who is with them at all times.

So once the child feels safe behind daddy's legs what do they do. You ever watch them. What's the first thing they do. Stick their head out. That's right. They stick their head out. They face the threat.

Now that they're behind daddy. Now that they feel safe they have boldness to stick the face out and face the threat. They get more bold the closer to daddy they are. If daddy starts to move. Guess what they do.

Hold on to the legs. Keep looking at the threat. Move with daddy. Right. Fathers you are a picture of the daddy. They need to hide behind. They need god. And if they don't if we don't point to god they will suffer when we are not around.

How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand. You can run behind your heavenly father because he is mighty in action. What do we say as the kids get a little bit older and they're talking with other kids on the playground.

What do they say about their daddies. My daddy. Yes. My daddy's the best. He's the strongest. My daddy can beat up your daddy. You know that's what they say. Um we see this in this verse is like you drove them out with thy hand.

Right. Like we we've heard how awesome how great. How strong you are lord. Um and we see the next part of that say and plantest them. And we think it means oh alright somehow plantest is a weird word for you drove them out and then you planted them.

Like what are you picturing. Do you plant a fist in their face or. No. The word here is actually what it's showing is a contrast. So we see you drove out the heathen and you planted your people. And so we're seeing the psalms here go.

God you drove them out and then you gave us a position. Alright. So we don't just have protection but we have position. The word here actually means to plant or to establish. Question for you guys why do we plant things.

Okay let's go see we do it so it'll grow. Do it. So it'll grow. Alright now let's go not seed. Why do we plant something. So it's firm. Okay. So the whole idea of planting. And even if you're just planting a tree so that it'll grow what do you do.

You tend to make sure the ground is firm enough around it so it'll stay up. You might even reinforce it with some stuff stake it down. Right. So when you plant it's for giving a firm foundation and giving a natural environment where it will grow.

Right. Notice that the first thing that must be done in order for for planted people so to speak because that's what we have here is we have planted people. You plantest them. Right. What's the first thing that has to be done for them to be established.

The heathen must be driven out. But it is God who does the driving. Not man. Now if we are to grow as God's people the heathen need to be driven out. This does not mean we should go physically remove people who do not believe in God though.

That's what we'd like to do. Right. That would be us doing the driving. No. No we are to be planted. Right. God does the driving and he does the planting. How does he do this. He does it with his mighty hand.

It is the work the mighty work of God to remove the heathen from the land. And it says he will afflict the people. Alright. So let's deal with that part. How thou didst afflict the people and cast them out.

Ok. So this affliction is a displeasing or injurious harm that breaks or causes to be broken. Alright. So imagine the heathen are there. God with a mighty work drives them out and he plants his people in their stead gives them a position and he afflicts them not his people but the ones he's driving out.

What we see is a double contrast here driving out the heathen planting his people afflicting the heathen and casting out his people. It looks at first that it's saying he's casting out the heathen. But the word here actually means something else entirely.

In fact Spurgeon says he references the children of Israel with this casting out. He says it's as if to cause them to be extended or to expand. Alright. So when I read this it seems a little different to me.

It seems to have more of a negative connotation to it connected with the concept of casting people off the land. But because Israel is the one that's kind of being thought of here in past think of where Korah was he was in the wilderness this was after they've been taken out of Egypt.

Right. The thing that it's being thought of here is God's mighty works driving the heathen out sometimes causing them to be displeased. I want you to think of Israel being oppressed in Egypt for a moment.

Alright. Israel's oppressed by the Egyptians. And what does God do to Israel. He causes them to be afflicted. He causes them to experience all the plagues. He harms the oppressors until finally they cast Israel out from their presence.

They finally let Israel go. Alright. So there's this affliction. And then let's get rid of Israel here. Let's cast them out. What's God using that for to bring them into the promised land. Right. So that's what Spurgeon focuses on.

Is this idea of Israel being cast out from Egypt and being spread out or expanded. Since that is in fact true Spurgeon could be. Right. It may be that Israel is being cast abroad like seeds being planted makes sense.

Right. Or it may have a negative connotation and it's God afflicting the heathen and casting them off of the promised land. At any rate whether this is a positive casting out of Israel or a negative casting away of the heathen from the promised land both would be considered acts of God.

And they both speak to this idea of position which is let's cast the heathen off of the promised land and let's plant God's people there. Or let's afflict Egypt and cast God's people away from the world system.

In either case we see position being hinted at here and therefore also purpose. See God's people have position with God while all others have position against God. Those who have position with God will enjoy his protection.

Those who have position against him will experience his pulverization. Each serves a purpose. For God's people their purpose is to be cast out like seed on good soil planted in the environment which is natural for growth and to be connected to the root so that they can grow and they can bear much fruit.

Alright. For all others their purpose is to suck the life away from the planted to steal that which was provided for the planted and to be afflicted by the good husbandmen until they are plucked up cast out and removed from the soil completely.

Both serve a purpose. God's people serve a purpose not God's people serve a purpose. So in verse 2 what do we have. We have protection. We have position. We have purpose. If you're going to be teaching your kids history fathers start with those things.

Start with the fact that God drives out heathen. There is an affliction for those who oppose God and there is protection for those who are with God. Start there. Why. Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Yes protection position. Because we also see we're in verse 2 of Psalm 44 by the way we also see that when God drives out the heathen he plants his people. It says drivest out the heathen and plantest them.

Meaning he drove out the heathen and he planted his people. So there's position. There's a place where you belong and there is purpose in that place. So we have those 3 Ps. There's going to be a lot more Ps because I try to stick with alliteration makes it easier to remember.

God's Provision Comes From the Provider

Ok. So then we're going to move on to verse 3 now 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 hast favor unto them.

The second lesson is a provision. Another history lesson. Fathers teach your kids the history of how God has protected how God has positioned how God has given purpose to his people. But then also follow that up with how God has provided for his people.

The protection may give boldness to see what they can do. Remember we pictured the kid poking their head out from behind dad's legs. Protection gives them boldness. But provision reminds them that apart from God their doing is in vain.

Because we get bold we do something it works and we go. Look what I did. Right. But the reason why we even had the boldness to begin with to go and do something is because we had the protection from which to operate from and the protection gave us the boldness.

And we have to understand that God doesn't just give the protection but he also brings the increase. So we can't really even take credit for the doing. We can take credit for maybe the boldness we had in the position we were in with the Lord and the protection we understood we go.

Okay I had boldness and then God brought the increase. Right. And so we have to remind our children where provision comes from. And there's an interesting relationship between protection and provision because protection gives you the opportunity or the boldness to go out and obtain and God brings the increase.

So you have provision. But what does provision bring. Provision brings an increased need for protection. I mean think about it. If I had $10 sitting out here just on the table and I left it there and I walked away I might have to worry about a little kid going $10.

Right. I probably wouldn't worry too much in this church but I might still. You know kids are kids the adults. I don't think I'd worry too much about it. You guys would be fine. What if I had a million bucks sitting up here on the table.

Even an honest man would have a hard time passing up the million bucks. Right. And the more you have the more you have a need for protection of whatever it is you have. Interestingly enough the way man thinks when he has more is he needs less protection because he begins to put his trust in the provision instead of the provider.

So it's important that we remember where the provision came from. Job said it when he said the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Right. So the strength to acquire comes from by provision from the Lord.

But then also the strength to keep that which was acquired comes from the protection from the Lord. It shows us his right hand that is his mighty action. It talks about his arm. It says. 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 favor unto them. What are these things. Why does it list. Three. The mighty hand reminds us of his mighty action.

The right hand reminds us of his mighty action. His arm reminds us of his sustaining power. And the light of his countenance is the favor of his presence. All three of those are required for a Christian to operate in boldness.

Pledging Allegiance to the King and Seeking Deliverance

Verse four. Thou art my king. Oh God. Command deliverances for Jacob. All. Right. That's an interesting shift in the way things are written. Right. Like we're talking about history talking about protection and position and purpose and provision and all this great stuff.

And God's power activates all of it. Now it says thou art my king. Oh God. What is that. I'll give you a hint. I'm using a P word for it. Okay. Close. I would say first it's a pledge. Yeah thou art my king.

That is a declaration. You are above me. I am subservient to you pledge. And then it asks for something from the king. Command deliverances for Jacob. Interesting that Jacob is invoked here by the children of Israel.

Who was Jacob? Israel. Exactly. So why invoke the name of Jacob. Couple of reasons. First he didn't have the easiest life. He ran from Esau. He was deceived by Laban. He ran from Laban too. He wrestled with God at Peniel.

His daughter was violated by a Hivite prince of Shechem. His sons Levi and Simeon brutally slaughtered the entire town of Shechem. His son Joseph was taken from him. He thought by death. The woman he loved Rachel died giving birth to to Benjamin.

And there was famine in the land and Jacob had to depart with Benjamin. There's a whole lot of sorrow in Jacob's life. So life isn't easy. Command deliverances for Jacob. This you are my king. Command deliverances.

It's like where does our help come from. Comes from the king. Right. That's where a deliverance from hardship comes. But remember as Ben just pointed out Jacob was renamed to Israel. The name Jacob I think pictures the old man the flesh whereas the Israel pictures the spirit.

And we see these names being almost interchangeable throughout Jacob's life. Not only do we need God to deliver us from the heathen and from the terrible situations and the hardships of life that we find ourselves in but we also need God to command deliverances from the flesh.

I think it's interesting that they use the word Jacob here instead of command deliverances for Israel. Command deliverances for Jacob. Um save us from ourselves. I think is a great way to put it. I mean think about that kid who hid behind daddy's legs.

They poke their head out and they face the threat. And they get all bold. My daddy can beat up your daddy. And they feel emboldened by that. I can do anything. Why. Because my daddy's strong right now think about that same kid looking at something that would harm them and going.

I think I'm going to do that thing something really bad bad pictures bad drugs. You name it when they're itty bitty. It's that light switch. It's that plug in the wall. Right. I'm going to go and touch that thing.

And what does daddy have to do when they're about to go and get that thing. Man daddy brings down the hammer. You don't touch that thing. You stay away from that. You stay away from that stuff. We have to save them from themselves over and over and over again when they're itty bitty.

This is Israel. This is the sons of Korah in particular asking God to save them from themselves. Interesting seeing as who they are coming from from Korah who was not saved from himself. Alright verse 5.

Through thee we will push down our enemies through thy name. We will tread them under that rise up against us. If we push down our enemies in the name of Christ. But we do so apart from Christ we become nothing more than a pharisaical bully.

That's what we are. Notice it says through thee we will push down our enemies. So what does this fight look like. How do we actually push down the enemy. It looks like adhering to God's presence. Notice it says through thee.

Right drawing close to the Lord we will push our enemies down. It looks like living and acting through the name of God. In the old testament they would shout out the name of God as they battled. In the new testament we take on the name of God in the form of Christian meaning little Christ.

And we seek to live worthy of that name. When we live worthy of that name we find ourselves enjoying the presence of God more. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves pray and seek my face.

What is that presence. Then will I hear them from heaven. And I will come and heal their lands. Right. When we live worthy of our name we find ourselves enjoying the presence of God. And that presence of God will push down and tread over our enemies.

That's what the new testament fight looks like. We don't need to pick up guns. And I have nothing against guns. I'm very much for them and I think we should be carrying them. But we don't need to pick up our guns and go and drive out the heathen in that way.

If we are living in according to God's word in his ways and if we are adhering to his presence if we are acting with piety then what we'll see is we will see the presence of God. Do the driving out for us.

So what does this speak to our personality. Personality needs to be aligned with Christ's personality. We should have a personality of piety. Verse 6. For I will not trust in my bow. Neither shall my sword save me.

These are weapons of war. The bow and the sword are powerful but not to be trusted for salvation. For they are only the tools. Salvation comes from the Lord. Verse 7. But thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put them to shame that hated us.

Notice who gets the praise. There's the P that Ben got to earlier. Who gets the praise. Thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put them to shame that hated us. It's interesting because their hatred is turned upon themselves.

God's Principles, Politics, and the Minority

We see that when God's principles are brought into things like let's say politics we're in a midterm election year. This is important if God's principles are adhered to and if you go to the voting booths to vote if you will vote according to God's principles according to God's platform if you will don't even look at the person.

The person doesn't matter. What matters is what are they saying they're going to bring as the principles. And the reason why that's important is that we get caught up in you know I don't like the person or I feel like the person is mean Donald Trump gets a lot of that.

Right. Oh he's so mean he's uncouth great. Right. Guess what I feel like. I'm always only choosing between the lesser of two evils who are. You always will be until it's Jesus on the ballot. Right. But Jesus is not on the ballot.

You know what is on the ballot. The opportunity to further Jesus his principles his platform. And they will always be presented by someone who's pretty flawed. And so we don't look at the people. What we look at is we look at what do they stand for.

Not just what they say but what they do. And it's those principles that drive out the heathen. You'll notice that when God's principles are brought in when God's platform is exalted even by a flawed human being which they all are then you'll start to see things begin to get better.

At least for God's people. That does not come without struggle. It doesn't come without frustration. There's a reason it feels like deliverance. When we do something good it will at first feel like this isn't working.

It will at first feel like this is bad. This hurts because we tend to judge what is good and what's bad by how it makes us feel. That's not what good and bad is judged by. It's judged by God's word. And so we go.

Alright it doesn't feel good. It doesn't look good. It's not gonna feel good or look good when the world is gonna be just berating you for doing opposite of what the world wants. It's gonna feel bad. It's gonna look bad.

It's gonna be like ugh I feel like I'm alone. I had a conversation with Maddie Grace about this last night and she said sometimes it feels like we're the only ones that believe this stuff. And I'm like well I understand that it is always gonna feel that way.

It's always gonna feel like we are in the minority. Because guess what we are. We're in the minority. The idea of taking on the name of Christ and calling yourself a Christian isn't necessarily the minority for America although it's becoming more like that.

But just saying I'm a Christian isn't what it's about. It's about adhering to God's laws. It's about it's about you. Thou art my king command deliverances for Jacob. That's what it's about adhering to that.

But thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put them to shame that hated us in God. We boast all the day long and praise thy name forever. This is the last verse we're gonna talk about today. But notice where the boasting is.

Praising God and Teaching the Next Generation

The boasting is in God. The praising is in his name. I love that the word salah is in here. It's my favorite word in the whole bible. People ask me what's your favorite verse. I have a hard time picking a favorite verse.

I don't have a hard time picking a favorite word. Salah is my favorite word because it's like a dramatic mic drop word. And it's feeling and meaning change with whatever it's after it doesn't actually have a meaning.

It is a musical pause to bring emphasis. And so if it's after something sad it's extremely sad. It's like pause and ponder just how sad this is that I just said. If it's after something happy it's exuberant.

If the word salah is there it's like think about how happy this is. And so in God. But thou has saved us from our enemies and has put them to shame that hated us. Think about the fact that we are the minority and the majority is put to shame in God.

We boast all the day long and praise thy name forever. Salah that's powerful. It's the majority. And we as humans tend to think that what we believe is only right when there's consensus especially in a democratic society as we like to call it.

We look for consensus and we decide if it's right based on how many people agree with us. That's not how we're supposed to decide what's right and wrong. And in fact if we're going to adhere to God's principles we will not have the consensus.

It's not going to happen. But if we will adhere to it anyway in the presence of our enemies God will prepare a table before us and he will drive out the heathen. And he will plant us. And when he plants us then he will afflict them.

It's our very presence and purpose that will cause that affliction because we will be bringing the love of Christ which constrains us and it inflicts pain on them. It's like heaping hot coals on their head as it says in scripture.

It will cause them to not want to either be around us. They will want to leave. They will want to try and harm us and God will protect us. That's where the protection comes so much in play. Or ultimately they will just leave.

They'll get out of here. They'll go look for some other place to call their home. We don't know what the outcome will be. All we know is that we're supposed to say thou art my God thou art my king. Oh God.

Command the deliverances for Jacob. Deliver me from the situation. Deliver me from the heathen. Deliver me from myself. So we have protection so we can be bold. We have position so we can grow. We have purpose so we can expand the kingdom and these principles into all areas of our lives first and then the areas of the people who surround us.

We have provision so we can be motivated to seek further protection which is an interesting way to think about provision. We have pledge so we can be in subjection to the good king. We have personality of piety so that we can look like that good king.

And that personality will end up either driving out the foes in the form of they just don't want to be around us. And they'll leave or they'll go. I've never heard that before. Tell me more. And they'll end up being like a Saul right.

Who turns into a Paul. And then we have praise so we can remember where our help comes from. And finally we have the pause to ponder the things that we've just learned. That's what a history lesson should look like from us dads to our kids.

Teach them about how God does that and how that fight is activated through righteous living to that God. Because righteous living to that God ends up making it has an effect in the world around us. I'll say it that way.

It has an effect. Fathers teach your children the history of God. They call it history for a reason right. It's his story. And encourage them. Remind them that they have protection and that protection is pictured in you but provided by God.

They have provision. And it may have come through the form of gifts from the daddy. But God gave daddy the gifts to give you. Make sure they understand what their position is. As for me in my house we will serve the Lord.

Make sure they know what their purpose is and that is to honor and glorify God. Encourage them to pledge their lives of piety to the king and praise the king in front of them so that they know what that looks like.