Psalm 44
Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for thy name’s sake.
O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have declared it unto us.
Psalm 44:26,1 (Resurrection matins, tone 4 prokeimenon)
The use of these verses at the Sunday resurrection matins during the year shows that the psalm points to Christ’s victory over death. The same verses are also used at Holy Saturday matins just before the “dry bones” reading (Ezekiel 37:1-14). But it’s worthwhile reading the whole psalm and seeing that this prayer for resurrection and redemption comes in the midst of perplexing and unjust suffering and oppression. It’s another example of the heartfelt honesty of these prayers from three thousand years ago. Then as now people’s gut instinct is that if you are good, God will reward you. And if you are bad, you will be punished. But the experience of the psalmist contradicts this, and he is at home enough with his God to be able to say this out loud without any hint of pretend piety.
Thou hast made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those about us.
Thou hast made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
at the words of the taunters and revilers, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten thee, or been false to thy covenant.
This was Job’s complaint too. And the complaint of everyone who has suffered innocently through the ages. Billy Graham was once asked if, when he gets to heaven, would he have any questions for God, and he replied “I want to know why the devil was given such free reign over the earth.” God’s answer for us right now is the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn’t remove the perplexity and questions but he shows us that in Christ, with Christ, we too can transform the defeat of the cross into victory. Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for thy name’s sake!
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The Sunday before Christmas (this weekend), known as the Sunday of the Fathers, has Psalm 44:1,8 as the alleluia verses before the reading of the long gospel of the genealogy of Christ, “Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob…” (Matthew 1:1-25).
O God, with our ears we have heard, for our fathers have told us.
For Thou hast saved us from them that afflict us and them that hate us hast Thou put to shame.
Stewards of the Orthodox Church in America: Thank you
Thank you to everyone who remained a member of Fellowship of Orthodox Stewards over the years, who joined the renamed Stewards of the OCA earlier this year or who signed-up during the recent three-week website campaign. We didn’t reach the ambitious goal of 300 in that short time, but we got more than a third of the way there (132 members as of yesterday.) So if you didn’t get a chance to contribute, then you can still do so at oca.org/become-a-steward.