Psalm 44:13-14

Psalm 44:13-14

A reproach to the nations

The trail of woe continues and still the Lord God is to blame for it all. This time the finger points at Him because the surrounding nations are full of scorn and derision for Israel. “This mighty nation that trusts in their God, who claim to be the chosen, the special ones. These people with their creativity and their sacrifices and their rituals. Huh! They say that God is their protector and their provider, so where is He then? They are nothing. They are defenceless. They have no power. We are not intimidated by them.” 

These verses accurately describe the way that the Jews have been viewed over the centuries. They have indeed been the objects of scorn and ridicule, they have been a byword, the subject of jokes and mimicry. People have spat at them and treated them worse than animals, that’s before we consider those who have tried to annihilate them. The statements we find here were accurate at the time of writing and have remained so throughout the centuries. 

You can hear it can’t you? Maybe you have been similarly tainted by your association with the Creator God of the Universe, who you claim to be more powerful than all other gods. Be sure that there will always be those out there who belittle you and laugh at you and pour scorn on your pathetic fanaticism and your laughable faith in something and someone that they believe does not even exist. Jews and Christians alike have always been treated like this, it is one way we know that that we must have got something right! Yes, they will shake their heads and speak about you and I in derisory terms but if this happens please do not do what the Psalmist does here. Please do not say that this God has made you a reproach to your fellow men. It is not His doing; it is the foolishness and the arrogance of the world. When we take their side and turn against Him, we are in a dark place indeed. Thank God He will bring us through – He always does.

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