A Slave's Question
"Yet for Your sake we face death all day long." Ps. 44:22

Nyamoul, a Sudanese woman, bows in prayer: "Jesus, my family has been
faithful to You. So why were my parents murdered by government militia? Why
was I raped? And why am I now a slave? Lord, deliver me!"

Nyamoul is not alone. There are an estimated 25 million slaves in the world
today, many of them Christians!

Believe it or not, slavery can be an opportunity to be a missionary. In 2
Kings 5, a Jewish slave girl told her master, Naaman, about the prophet Elisha.
Think about that. If you were a slave, would your faith remain firm? Would
you share Christ with your captors?

Our compassionate God composed a special chapter for His children who bear
this burden--Psalm 44. Verses 1-8 boldly declare the mighty acts of God,
concluding with: "In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise
Your name forever." What confident faith!

Then the tone shifts. "But now You have rejected and humbled us.... You made
us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. You gave
us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations" (vv.
9-11).

If we assumed the folks in Ps. 44 deserved these tribulations due to their
own disobedience, we would be mistaken. For the psalm continues: "All this
happened to us, though we had not forgotten You or been false to Your
covenant.... If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands
to a foreign god, would not God have discovered it, since He knows the
secrets of the heart? Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are
considered as sheep to be slaughtered" (vv. 17, 20-22).

Can you feel their chagrin? Although they had not abandoned God, it seemed He
had forsaken them. This pained them more than the actual atrocities they had
endured.

Ps. 44 concludes with desperate questions and appeals. "Awake, O Lord! Why do
You sleep? Rouse Yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do You Hide Your
face and forget our misery and oppression?... Rise up and help us; redeem us
because of Your unfailing love" (vv. 23-26).

Even though Ps. 44 sounds depressing, it still is a mission promise. Why?
Because it demonstrates that the Lord identifies with enslaved and oppressed
believers--like our Sudanese friend Nyamoul--who for His sake face death all
day long (v. 22). Nyamoul is not alone. The Lord welcomes her anguished
cries.

Although today's e-column is almost done, we are not finished with Ps.
44. Remember, the psalmist asks God a question: "Why do you hide Your face
and forget our misery and oppression?" (v. 24). Does God ever answer the
question? Yes, a thousand years later in one of the Bible's most cherished
mission promises. It will be our text next week.

1. Discuss this opinion: "Slavery isn't history. Slavery is now."
2. Describe a time when you or someone you know felt like the writer of Ps.44?
3. From the Scriptures and from your experience, how do you think God answers
   the questions of Ps. 44:23-24?

• Make a chain bracelet out of paper clips. Wear it for a week to help you identify with and pray for enslaved Christians.