Sheep for the Slaughter

Psalm 44 contains three principle parts that are designed to increase the faith of God’s people while they are enduring affliction. First, the writer makes a record of the great mercy of God toward His people throughout history. Because God is faithful to the church in all ages, it is helpful to remember how He has delivered the saints of the past from the clutches of calamity. The author of this psalm may have been a prophet during Israel’s captivity in Babylon and penned this record to remind the people of the faithfulness of God to the nation of Israel.

The second part of this psalm presents a complaint to the Lord. The writer is complaining that God has not been favorable toward His people as He had been toward their fathers. The psalmist emphasizes that despite the persecutions of the faithful, they had not turned aside from the worship of God, that the trials they were suffering were due to their love and faithfulness to the Lord. Likewise in any age, believers who hold fast to true religion are oftentimes subject to persecutions for Christ’s sake. Christ Himself promises that this will happen when He encourages the faithful to remember the prophets who were persecuted in the same way and to remain steadfast in righteousness (Matt. 5).

The third part continues the theme that God’s people had been unduly persecuted because they had kept the covenant God had made with Abraham. While the psalmist claims no perfection, he emphasizes that the afflictions they faced were due to their steadfast devotion to the Lord and not to any particular sin such as idolatry. While many in Israel often abandoned God’s covenant, the faithful remnant remained true to God.

God’s people in all ages are called to faithfulness in the face of suffering. The church should expect affliction and realize that we suffer for Christ’s sake. Paul, in quoting this psalm in Romans 8:36, affirmed that this is the state of the church in all ages. Because we are one with Christ, we, too, are like sheep to the slaughter and we must endure this suffering in patience. The cup God has given us to drink contains suffering, and we must be willing to drink it or prove ourselves to be goats among the flock of God.