A Road Map for Life | Remembering Our Redeemer Sample

THE GOOD OLD DAYS (Psalm 44)

All my life I’ve heard people talk about “the good old days.” I don’t know exactly what that means or if the old days were as good as we remember them to be.

But I think I understand. There is something wonderful about looking back in life and having pleasant memories of great things or special moments. That is nothing new.

Psalm 44 begins this way: “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.” This is a perfect example of older folks reminiscing about the good old days.

It is wonderful to have that kind of heritage and history. However, when we speak about the old days, in this context, we are talking about the eternal God who never ages and never changes. It is not just history and heritage; it is Him, and it is here and now.

We don’t know exactly who penned the words of Psalm 44, but it is generally accepted that it fits in a historical context just after II Kings 19:7. King Hezekiah was scared to death, as the king of Assyria had come against Jerusalem. A wicked Assyrian general named Rabshakeh said that Hezekiah was going to be killed and the nation taken.

But at that time of despair, the Lord sent a preacher named Isaiah. The Bible says in verses 6-7 of that chapter,

“And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”

If you read the remainder of the chapter, you will see that it happened exactly that way. Our God is greater than our enemy. He who is with you is greater than whoever might be against you. That is what the psalmist emphasized in Psalm 44.

Verses 2-6: “How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob. Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.”

If you take just one verse from this study today, take hold of verse 6. It is not our strength, resources, or ingenuity. It is all God. It has always been, and it remains that way today.

I don’t know what battles you are facing or what emotions you are feeling at this moment. I don’t know what circumstances you are living in, but I know that God has always been faithful and will be faithful today!

The God of the good old days is still God. He is on the throne. His ears are open to your prayer and His eyes are on you. He holds you in the palm of His hand. He has every hair on your head numbered. He knows you by name. God still has everything under control.

With that in mind, consider two things the psalmist has done in Psalm 44.

1. He remembers what God has done in the past.

That is a good thing for all of us to do. Let me challenge you today to sit down and perhaps read through an old journal, or meditate on a season in your life when you were having a hard time and the Lord came through. You could gather with your family and discuss some of the answers to prayer from days gone by, or read a biography of someone who lived a life of faith and notice how God worked in that person’s life.

We are now in the second book of the Psalms and it is all about remembering our Redeemer. Go back and think about the One who saved you and answered those early prayers for you. Consider the early victories the Lord produced in your life. Doing this will put everything in perspective now and increase your faith.

2. He requests God’s power today.

The remainder of the psalm consists of the writer pouring out his complaints before the Lord.

Verse 11: “Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.” He used the comparison to sheep to also make the point that he still believed God to be his people’s Shepherd. He understood that the Lord knew exactly what needed to be done and would do it.

Verses 21-26: “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.”

This is how the psalm ends. He said, “Lord, you saved us in the past. Save us now.”

I want to remind you that His salvation is always a present-tense salvation. At some point in your life, He saved you once and for all from the penalty of sin, but He will also save you today from the power of sin.

Notice the references to God’s mercy. We know from Lamentations 3:22-23 that “the Lord’s mercies … are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

The Bible says no less than 43 times that “His mercy endureth for ever.”

Once you have spent some time rehearsing God’s goodness in the past, translate it into the present. Take today’s burdens and difficulties to Him and claim His power for the present.

The God who has saved in the past will do so today. The same goes for answered prayer and revival. We need a present-tense faith in a present-tense God if we want to see present-tense victories.

Talking about the good old days is a good starting point. But then we need to ask Him to work today because His goodness is for every day and every generation.

He has never forsaken us, and He never will.