Face down in the dirt
When God allows us to suffer despite our faithfulness, we can slip into a sort of dull stoicism, where we think faith may work for others, but not for us. This is when we need to lean in, with full honesty.
A descendants of Korah psalm.
1 O God, we’ve heard it ourselves—
the story our ancestors relayed to us
of what you did in their day
so long ago.
2 How you dispossessed nations by your power
and planted our ancestors in the land.
Suppressing their enemies
you made our ancestors flourish.
3 Not by their swords
did they take possession of the land
nor by their strength did they triumph.
No, it was by your hand
your strength in them
and the light of your face streaming down on them
because you delighted in them.
4 You are my King, my God:
you command victories for Jacob.
5 Only by you do we drive back our enemies
only through you do we trample our foes.
6 I put no faith in my bow
nor do I trust my sword to save me.
7 You’re the one
who gives us victory over our enemies
humiliating those who hate us.
8 We constantly praise your name, God
and endlessly boast about you.
9 Yet you’ve spurned us and humiliated us
and no longer march to battle with our armies.
10 You make us run from our enemies
and those who hate us plunder us.
11 You’ve turned us over
like sheep to the slaughter
and scattered us among the nations.
12 You’ve sold your people for a pittance
making nothing on the sale.
13 You’ve made us a joke to our neighbors
an object of ridicule and sneering
14 a standing joke to everyone around
so they shake their heads at the sight of us.
15 With “SHAME” tattooed on our foreheads
we live in constant disgrace
16 thanks to the taunts of vengeful enemies
who constantly berate and revile us.
17 And all this has happened
even though we never forgot you
or violated your covenant.
18 Our hearts never turned back
our feet never left the path.
19 Yet you’ve crushed us in this haunt of jackals
and shrouded us in death’s dark gloom.
20 If we’d forgotten God’s name
or spread out our hands to a foreign god
21 wouldn’t God have found out
since he knows the secrets of every heart?
22 But no, it’s on account of you
that we’re being killed all day long—
consigned as sheep to the slaughter.
23 Wake up!
Why do you sleep, Lord?
Rise up! Don’t reject us forever!
24 Why do you hide your face from us
ignoring our suffering and oppression
25 as we lie here
flat on the ground
face down in the dirt?
26 Rise up and help us!
Redeem us for the sake of your covenant love!
Like Job of old, the psalmist grapples with undeserved suffering. In flashbacks, he sees Israelite soldiers fleeing their oppressors and lying broken, beaten on the battlefield. He sees his people plundered at will, sold for a song, scattered among the nations, like sheep to the slaughter, lying disgraced in the dirt and ridiculed all the while.
But none of this computes because the covenant set these disasters out as punishments God would inflict on its violators—which they’re not, as God knows well. They don’t rely on themselves: they know God gave their ancestors the land and that, without him, they can’t defend it. And they praise God for all he’s done. But despite their faithfulness, their divine commander has abandoned them in battle.
The psalmist sets out half of the problem here: God cares deeply and is all-powerful, yet he lets his people suffer unjustly. The other half he implies: the God of Jacob isn’t an idol we can move at will. He doesn’t jump when we say, “Jump!” How then will God respond? The psalmist has no answer. But instead of drawing back, he leans in, crying out to the God he knows is himself the answer, though the psalmist doesn’t know how.
Lord, I know all my best efforts are useless unless you grant success. Where else can I turn when dispossessed and exiled than to you? Wake up and see my plight! Why subject me to disgrace and ridicule? Redeem me by your unfailing love, for the glory of your name. Amen.
In your free moments today, pray this prayer:
You are my King, my God:
you command victories for Jacob!
