“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” – Psa. 42:11
God is our hope and our help.
God my Rock
“I will say to God my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’
As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” – Psa. 42:9-10
No matter your circumstances or taunts from your enemies, God is your Rock.
Deep calls unto deep
“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life.” – Psa. 43:7-8
Deep calls to deep.
Hope in God
“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” – Psa. 42:5
Even when your back is against the wall, Hope in God.
Panting
“As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?” – Psa. 42:1-2
The longing of every believer.
Thoughts on Psalm 42
BOOK TWO
To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah.
42 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”
The longing of every believer.
4 When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.
Even when your back is against the wall, Hope in God.
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.
Deep calls to deep.
9 I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a breaking of my bones,
My enemies reproach me,
While they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
No matter your circumstances or taunts from your enemies, God is your Rock.
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
God is our hope and our help.
Thoughts on Psalm 41
The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
41 Blessed is he who considers the poor;
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
The Lord delivers, preserves, keeps, strengthens, and sustains those who are sick.
4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it.
This is all our stories.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they devise my hurt.
8 “An evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
The inevitable suffering of the Godly: once on the side of Jesus, many will align against us.
10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever.
We have integrity only because God upholds us and sets us before Himself. It’s all God.
13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
I’m not sure how often the Bible says Amen twice, but I doubt it is much and here is one of those times.
My integrity
“As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.” – Psa. 41:12-13
We have integrity only because God upholds us and sets us before Himself. It’s all God.
Four Different Men
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” – Psa. 139:23-24
One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is what God thinks of us.
There are four different men:
• The man whom the neighbors see,
• The man whom one’s family sees,
• The man whom the person himself sees,
• The whom God sees.
Men are cruel. They judge harshly. They know only part of the truth concerning us. They are not patient with our infirmities. But we are safe in the hands of God. He knows the worst in us, but He also knows the best. We may trust our lives, therefore, to God’s judgment–even if they are full of defects and flaws. He knows all, and will bring to light all the hidden things.
– J.R. Miller, “What God thinks of us.” (1909).
Against me
“All who hate me whisper together against me; Against me they devise my hurt. They say, ‘An evil disease clings to him and now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.’ Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” -Psa. 41:7-9
Once on the side of Jesus, many will align against us (even former friends).
