Psalm 44:10

 

Psalm 44:10 

Keep plodding!

We move on from a nation that is complaining of injustice to one that is now appropriating blame. The blame for their defeat and their current calamity is all God’s! The next few verses make difficult reading because it does not come naturally, for most of us, to lay the blame for our woes at God’s feet. In fact, I would go further and say, “How dare you!” Let me go further still and suggest that because we have the Holy Spirit and the tangible friendship of Jesus and the Word of God at hand, we might never experience what feels like complete abandonment by our Father God. We have to remember that for Israel, their sense of righteousness and intimacy with the Lord came from keeping the Law. Their relationship was not personal and it was not as a child with its father. There was no “big brother” around to lend a helping hand and to carry them through the dark times. When things went wrong, when their enemies triumphed, they only had one course and that was to blame the One who should be protecting them.  

Maybe, the conclusion that we must draw from this is that those who blame God do not really know God? There are plenty of people today who blame God for everything; they use their expletives and blasphemies to appropriate their anger and frustration to Him. When things go wrong they ask, “Where is God? Why did God not do something? God must hate me.” Any appropriation of blame shows a complete misunderstanding of who He is and what He is about. Those who know Him need to be careful too. It’s almost as if some expect a rose-petalled highway to heaven with no problems and no questions. The Christian walk is not like that. It is, more often than not, a daily trudge. There will also be dark clouds and periods of barrenness; it is then that we learn to trust, to have faith and, inevitably, He brings us through back into the sunshine. Hallelujah!

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