Awoken Himself To The True Situation He Now Calls On Their Sovereign Lord To Awaken And Rise Up And Help Them (Psalms 44:23-26).
‘Awake, why do you sleep, O Lord?
Arise, do not cast us off for ever.
Why do you hide your face,
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
For our soul is bowed down to the dust,
Our body cleaves to the earth.
Rise up for our help,
And redeem us for the sake of your covenant love.'
He now calls on God as their ‘Sovereign Lord' to awaken out of sleep, and act on their behalf. He asks Him to arise so that they may not be cast off for ever. This is not a rebuke but a recognition that God may act when He will. He does not really think that God is asleep, but simply behaving as though He were. The change from ‘God' to ‘Lord' (adonai) may indicate a recognition of the need for a new change of heart. They have been neglecting His Lordship.
Remembering how he had previously described the light of God's countenance as having been turned towards His people at the conquest (Psalms 44:3), he asks why He is not doing the same now. Why does He now hide His face from them? Why does he forget their affliction and oppression? It is clear that the enemy are still active in the surrounding countryside, and that they are at the very end of their resources, for the soul bowed down to the dust, and the body cleaving to the earth are indications of total defeat. Compare the description of the serpent in Genesis 3:14. Thus their only hope is in their God.
And so he prays that their Sovereign Lord will now rise up and give them aid, and will for the sake of His own covenant love (compare Exodus 34:7-8) now redeem them. Their whole hope is in Him and they are looking to Him.