I Will Yet Praise Him (Psalm 42)

¹ As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One^[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

⁶ My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

⁸ By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

 _____________

What stands out in this beautiful psalm is the psalmist’s confidence that although life is very hard for him at present, he will yet praise God in the future.  In his distress he is seeking comfort in what he knows over what he feels.   The praise and joy of the past will come again in the future, even though now he feels spiritually empty and thirsty.

What this psalm says to me today is that the circumstances of my life do not have the final word on what God’s activity and intentions are for me.  And they certainly aren’t a reliable barometer of His love.  Instead, in such struggles, I am to  anchor myself in what I know about my God, that He is with me even when it seems He is not, and that His love is being poured out even when the evidence isn’t readily apparent in my life.

So my prayer today is for such hope when times are hard.  But I’m also praying this morning for those who are facing struggles right now, those who are dealing with depression, and those who are struggling to find hope. I pray that the Holy Spirit bless them with confidence that God is with them and with hope that they will yet praise Him.

NOTE:

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