Psalms 42
Psalms 42:1-11 (NLT)
1 For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?
3 Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”
4 My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration!
5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and
6 my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you—even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar.
7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.
9 “O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?”
10 Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!
To the question of why the soul is discouraged and overwhelmed, there is surely an answer from an endless list of possible enemies that are making life appear perilous. How wonderful it would be if there were never any reason to be downcast, if there was never any opposition, rainy days, or unsavory encounters. This has never been the promise, though – just that we would not be alone through any of them. We do not have to be ultimately defeated by them. It is very encouraging to know that the man after God’s own heart experienced the same soul challenges that come so easily. It’s encouraging because he also provides the way to get through them, to rise and be lifted in joy. Instead of just focusing on and declaring the surrounding circumstances, there can be a bold declaration of what our mode of operation is as a child of the Most High. By declaring that what we always do is hope in the Lord, we always praise Him, there is a redirection of the soul to the One who never leaves us, the One who is ever leading us to the other side. To complain alone is to just remain in the downcast state, but to assume the position and actions of a new creation in Christ is to follow a path that inevitably leads upward to joyous victory. So good to be the director of the soul rather than its downcast proclaimer of sorrows.