Awake, Why Do You Sleep, O Lord?

Psalm 44 is a psalm of the sons of Korah, a psalm of memory, pain, faith, and urgent prayer. After the first part remembered the wonders God performed for our fathers, and after the second part declared that Israel has not forgotten the covenant, this final part becomes a cry for God to rise, help, and redeem.

From the place of darkness comes the central line of the song:

"Awake, why do You sleep, O Lord? Wake up; do not reject forever."

This is faith in a moment of concealment: not turning away from God, but turning toward Him with pain, loyalty, and desperate hope.

This song is part of the larger journey of the project: with God's help, to compose and sing the entire Book of Psalms in a diverse, emotional, Jewish, and uplifting musical language.