An anguished cry for God's renewed help after allowing his people to be crushingly defeated.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-8
st. 2 =vv. 9-16
st. 3=vv.17-22
st. 4 = vv. 1-3, 23-26

Ascribed to (or assigned to) "the Sons of Korah," one of the Levitical choirs (1 Chron. 6:31-48), Psalm 44 is a communal prayer of ancient Israel. It reflects a cry of faith in the face of Judah's crushing defeat at the hands of Assyrian armies. That God had abandoned Judah to their enemies even though they had not turned their backs on him was a great enigma that tried their faith. Psalm 44 expresses that enigma in a prayer for God's renewed help.

Impassioned as it is, this carefully designed prayer has its appropriate use in Christian worship. In singing it, we join the people who recall God's past victories on their behalf (st. 1), cite God's present abandonment of his people to their cruel enemies (st. 2), and wonder at the great enigma: 'This happened though we have been faithful" (st. 3). Again recalling the LORD's past victories for them, the people cry for a renewal of God's help (st. 4).

Bert Polman (PHH 37) prepared the versification of this psalm in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal, adapting from the versifications in the 1912 Psalter and The Book of Psalms for Singing (1973).

Liturgical Use:
Because this communal lament wrestles with why God sometimes seems to forsake his faithful people, it is appropriate for occasions when the church is suffering at the hands of Christ's enemies or has been defeated (temporarily!) by the powers of this age.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook