Psalm 44 23Wake up! Why are You sleeping, O Lord? Awake! Don’t reject us forever. 24Why do You hide Your face and forget how we suffer and are oppressed? 25Our necks are bowed down in the dust, and our bellies cling to the ground.
When you are in the midst of trials, troubles and tribulations and you have been praying, has this ever been your prayer? It seems as if the LORD is asleep on the job. Doesn’t He know how important the answer to your prayer is? It may indeed seem like the LORD is asleep sometimes. We may even feel we have been rejected by God forever, like the psalmist here. I don’t know why these types of psalms are not used more often in the introits. There are certainly places for them based on the gospel lessons. This one would be particularly good for the Sunday in which Jesus is asleep in the bow of the boat during the storm. It shows up in Epiphany in the one year series and in June in series b. It is strange it doesn’t come up in series a or c.
Here is the account from Mark 4:
37Then a violent storm came up, and the waves dashed into the boat so that it was filling up fast. 38Meanwhile, in the back of the boat, He was sleeping on the cushion. They woke Him up. “Teacher, we’re drowning,” they told Him. “Don’t You care?” 39He got up and ordered the wind to stop. “Hush!” He said to the sea. “Be still!” And the wind quieted down, and it became very calm. ‘ 40 “Why are you so afraid?” He asked them. “Haven’t you learned to trust yet?” 41Struck with awe, they asked one another, “Who is He? Even the wind and the sea obey Him.”
The disciples and Jesus seem to be fulfilling the words of the psalm. Jesus is actually sleeping during a storm. The disciples wake Jesus up. “Don’t you care?” they ask. The psalmist asked, “Why do you hide your face and forget?”
We often in the midst of trials may have our necks bowed down in the dust and our bellies to the ground, if only figuratively, we have long faces. But we may stretch ourselves on our beds at times and beat our fists into the mattress. Perhaps on a particularly harsh day we may even go to the ground and look like that five year old in the grocery store aisle throwing a fit. It probably looks that way to God. Have we learned to trust Jesus yet? The disciples hadn’t at the time of the storm on the sea account. They did not recognize Jesus is the LORD, the God of the Old Testament yet in the flesh. Do we recognize this?
26Rise and help us! Save us because You are kind to us!
With whatever faith that we have, we join the psalmist in calling out to the LORD to rise, help and save us. We know the LORD Jesus Christ is kind to us. We just can’t see it through the trial we are experiencing. While Jesus was actually sleeping in the boat in the storm, He isn’t sleeping today. He is preparing the answer to our prayers in the manner, way, form, type, time, amount, etc. that is best for us. In answering our prayers, He isn’t like some genie who doesn’t care about the outcome of our unwise prayers. Jesus is Wisdom incarnate and answers our prayers wisely. We may not like when and how Jesus and the Father answer our prayers at times but be assured He is not going to give us a stone when we ask for bread or a scorpion when we ask for an egg. He will give us the Holy Spirit who prays for us in groanings too deep for words.
Merciful God and Father, forgive us our lack of faith when we pray and wait for Your answer to our prayers and do always what is best for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.