Psalm 44 is quite an unusual psalm which is built up in two parts. Verses 1 to 8 recount the Lord’s victories in conquering the land, emphasising several times that it was not His people who achieved the victory, but the Lord’s right hand and the light of His countenance. This first part proclaims the truth of the power and might of the Lord with great affirmation, which is essential for us to have confirmed as we move on into the appearances of the next verses.

The second part, verses 9 to 26, presents the confronting idea that the Lord has acted against His people, letting them be defeated, scattered and be ‘severely broken in the place of jackals’ (verse 19); all this, even though - as it says - the people of the Lord have not forgotten God or dealt falsely with His covenant, or stretched out their hands to a foreign god.

To see and follow the spiritual idea of this psalm, it is important to understand that the Lord is the victorious one in all our spiritual conflicts. He brings us into stronger surer states through the result of our actions and decisions. It is not us, even though it necessarily seems to be ourselves doing the work. When we understand this principle, we are able to see that the second part of the psalm is about our need to be kept in humility.

Spiritual humility helps us to acknowledge it is the Lord who saves us. We don't - on our own, have the ability to do it. In this psalm that truth is described as us being brought to ‘shame’ and ‘dishonour’ and other indictments when we put ourselves in place of the Lord. The ‘shame’ and ‘dishonour’ come when we start to think and then believe that the good was ours. (Arcana Caelestia 874)

The psalm begins with words about us ‘having heard’ and ‘been told by our fathers’ about the deeds of the Lord. The spiritual meaning here is to do with the ‘remains’ or heavenly experiences, and truths we are given by the Lord, mostly in our childhood. These affect us and become embedded deeply so that when we work to regenerate in adult life they can come to our consciousness and empower and enable us. (Arcana Caelestia 1906)

The next part of the psalm emphasises the Lord fighting for us, driving out our enemies and establishing his people. Spiritually, these are words to do with our opposing states that ‘battle’ for control of our lives. In the psalm, the phrase ‘Your right hand’ and ‘Your arm’ are used about the Lord’s strength and presence with us to help us secure our decision for heaven. (The Lord 27, near the end of the section)

Then come two statements in verse 5 which describe the subtlety of the Lord’s work and our work jointly in overcoming evil. “Through You we will push down our enemies; through You we will trample those who rise up against us.” Typically, in the psalms, these make a similar-sounding pair. The first refers to the victory of good over evil as a whole, while the second refers to the victory of truth over false ideas which are specific and numerous. (Arcana Caelestia 4820)

After this first section, based on the Lord’s power to save us and ending with our boasting in God all day long, comes the anguished section on the Lord’s apparent inactivity and even his rejection of us. This is catalogued extensively to drive its point home. Yet, the Lord never does this, it is only the appearance to us that the Lord leaves us to our own perils. This becomes how it seems to be to us when we only look at our situation and not at the Lord’s purposes for us.

The whole point of entering such states is to learn to leave them -- and urgently so. The Lord allows them for this reason, and they are a reality for all of us during regeneration, serving to bring us fully back to the Lord. Verse 17 onwards describes this re-emergence. ‘We have not forgotten You nor have our steps departed from Your way.’ (verses 17 and 18). In response it says, ‘For He knows the secrets of the heart.’ And, appropriately, the whole psalm ends with a great cry to the Lord to awake, arise, and redeem us "for Your mercies’ sake". Spiritually, we have to ask Him to bring us back to our true state.