Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - 2014 Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Reverend Wayne Palmer "Laid in the Dust" Monday, 31 March 2014 - Read Psalm 44

Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - 2014 Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Reverend Wayne Palmer "Laid in the Dust" Monday, 31 March 2014 - Read Psalm 44: For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm.
1 We have heard with our ears, God;
    our fathers have told us,
    what work you did in their days,
    in the days of old.
2 You drove out the nations with your hand,
    but you planted them.
You afflicted the peoples,
    but you spread them abroad.
3 For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword,
    neither did their own arm save them;
but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your face,
    because you were favorable to them.
4 You are my King, God.
    Command victories for Jacob!
5 Through you, will we push down our adversaries.
    Through your name, will we tread them under who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
    neither shall my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our adversaries,
    and have shamed those who hate us.
8 In God we have made our boast all day long,
    we will give thanks to your name forever.
Selah.
9 But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor,
    and don’t go out with our armies.
10 You make us turn back from the adversary.
    Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
11 You have made us like sheep for food,
    and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sell your people for nothing,
    and have gained nothing from their sale.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
    a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations,
    a shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 All day long my dishonor is before me,
    and shame covers my face,
16     At the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses,
    because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come on us,
    yet have we not forgotten you,
    Neither have we been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
    neither have our steps strayed from your path,
19     Though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals,
    and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
    or spread out our hands to a strange god;
21     won’t God search this out?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long.
    We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Wake up!
    Why do you sleep, Lord?[a]
Arise!
    Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face,
    and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust.
    Our body clings to the earth.
26 Rise up to help us.
    Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 44:23 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”
TEXT: You lay me in the dust of death (see Psalm 22:15).
A clay water pot strikes the ground and shatters. The precious water pours out in every direction, seeps into the dust and disappears, leaving only the broken potsherds behind. In this image King David prophecies the crucifixion of his great descendent, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see His very life pour out of His wounds and disappear into the dust beneath the cross. 
When God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden He strongly warned him against eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying, "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (see Genesis 2:16-17). When Adam and Eve ate that fruit, God pronounced their-and our-punishment: "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19).
Because of our sinful nature each of us has forfeited our lives. We too must die and our bodies be buried in the ground to return to the dust from which we were taken. But God provided a substitute sacrifice-the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. Jesus laid down His life in the dust. His lifeless body, the broken potsherd, was buried in a borrowed tomb. But three days later He rose in triumphant victory. Because He lives forever, all those who trust in Him will live forever with Him. One day we will die, be buried and return to the dust (unless Jesus returns first). But Jesus will return in glory to raise our lowly bodies and make them glorious like His own.
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, You took on Yourself the punishment for my sin, being laid in the dust of death that I might live in Your presence forever. Receive my thanks and praise now and forever. Amen.
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