Rouse Yourself, O Sleeping God

Scripture — Psalm 44:23-24 (NRSV)

Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not cast us off forever!
Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

Devotion

Psalm 44:23-24 comes in the context of an extended lament, in which the psalmist accuses God of mistreating his people, even though they have not broken his covenant (44:17). The lament concludes with this gripping verse: “Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (v. 22).

In desperation, the psalmist cries out to God as if God were sleeping: “Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?” (44:23). I love the honesty of this cry. It hasn’t been cleaned up theologically. It’s bold, brash, and one might almost say, inappropriate. Who would assume to speak to God in this way? Only one who had confidence in God’s ability to hear with grace. Only one whose relationship with God was intimate enough to risk such openhearted prayer. Only one who felt safe revealing the depths of his or her heart to the Lord.

If you’ve walked with the Lord for some time, you have no doubt experienced times of desperation in your relationship with God. You have known moments when it seems as if God is sleeping. You have felt as if God was ignoring your suffering.

I remember a time when my son, Nathan, was an infant. He was terribly sick, with a fever over 105 degrees. I was up with him for most of the night, trying to let my wife get some rest. Nathan spent the majority of that night crying in agony. I felt consumed by worry for him, not to mention exhausted from lack of sleep. I had been praying on and off for hours. Finally, at about four in the morning, I yelled at God through my tears. I told God I would never let someone I love go through what Nathan is suffering. I said things to God that I would never put in writing. They were too terrible, too personal, too much like what we read in the Psalms.

Now, as I look back on that moment, I marvel at the freedom I felt to tell the Lord exactly what was on my heart. He didn’t consume me with holy fire or throw me into the pit. Rather, he used that experience to reassure me that I can open my heart fully in prayer, confident of God’s mercy. I can tell God exactly what I’m thinking and feeling, without holding back or making sure my prayers are spiritually correct. I can do these things, not because I’m full of myself, but rather because God invites us into an extraordinarily free relationship with God, one in which we are invited to share our genuine thoughts and feelings with God.

In the season of Lent, we are reminded of just how helpless we are before God. We come before God in our neediness, desperate for help and healing that only God can supply. We cry out boldly, trusting that God’s grace will cover us. This trust is affirmed both in Scripture and in our life experience. The God of the Universe actually hears us when we cry out in desperation. And God responds with favor because that reflects the true nature of our God of grace and mercy.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Face Down in the Dust.