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Day 36

Psalm 44:20 "If we had forgotten the name of our God..."

Day 36 – Psalm 44

“If we had forgotten the name of our God…” Psalm 44:20

A MINISTRY OF PRAYER

One of the duties of Israel was to pray for the nation. How did they learn how to pray? One of the greatest teachers they had was Moses himself. Again and again Moses would fall on his face in prayer to God, pleading with the Lord to spare His people. Had not Moses often stood in the breach, Israel would have perished (Psalm 106:23)!

AN UNUSUAL PRAYER

Psalm 44 is a most unusual prayer. It was certainly not a standard prayer to be used regularly by anyone.

“If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.”
Psalm 44:20-21

1. “If we had forgotten the name of our God”

a) Had Israel always remembered God’s name?
b) Israel would be virtually sinless if it had always succeeded in remembering God’s name.

2. “Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god”

a) Had Israel ever been free from praying to foreign gods?
b) Could the sons of Korah be serious when they offered this argument?

3. “Would not God search this out?”

a) God had searched this out!
b) Moses had to contend with the issue of the golden calf (Exodus 32).
c) The prophet Amos named two gods that Israel worshipped when they were in the wilderness (Amos 5:26).

4. “For He knows the secrets of the heart”

Indeed God knows the secrets of the heart! And He knows that “they have all turned aside… there is none who does good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:3)!