by Dan Lohrmann
Life often seems like a roller coaster ride, and 2020 has delivered more twists and turns and ups and downs than most years – and we’re only half-way through!
From tracking the spread of Covid-19 to watching the economy to trying to make sense of the latest protests to even knowing what stores are open, it’s hard to keep up with the latest…. anything.
Closer to home, I have a great devotional time but emerge to hear previously happy kids in a new fight. Or, a loving spouse is upset about car problems. Or, burnt toast ruins breakfast. Or….
And suddenly, I realize I’m the one with a bad attitude.
Help!
When we pause and think, we know our help comes from the Lord, but how does that work in our day-to-day struggles? One surprising model comes from Psalm 42, but get ready for another roller-coaster ride.
What shocks me about this Psalm is the self-talk, which seems as if two very different people are talking at different times. Person one says, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” But person two retorts, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” Going further, person two continues later, “As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’”
So how can these differences be reconciled? Will the real David please stand up?
As I think through what’s happening (and read helpful Bible commentaries), I realize that these two competing voices are sounding a lot like my own self-talk. Can you also relate? One moment I am enjoying sweet communion with the living God, longing to be in public worship or for joyful fellowship with other believers. At other times, while focusing on the words and actions of non-believers or troubling situations in this world, my soul is cast down and feeling alone and even doubting God. What can be done?
An answer comes in verse 6: “My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”
Charles Spurgeon offers this commentary on the verse: “Blessed downcasting which drives us to so sure a rock of refuge as thee, O Lord. He recalls his seasons of choice communion by the river and among the hills… It is great wisdom to store up in memory our choice occasions of converse with heaven; we may want them another day, when the Lord is slow in bringing back his banished ones, and our soul is aching with fear.”
In other words, it is helpful to remember. All of us can recall the blessed gospel, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Tim Keller says, “The minute you decide to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit comes into your life. It’s the power of the resurrection—the same thing that raised Jesus from the dead.” We can also call to mind and even write down answered prayers, seasons of blessing, and times of close communion with God.
As the Psalm concludes, the difficult challenge is repeated. But this time, the author preaches hope to his soul: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Psalm 42
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
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 say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
6 My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and 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 do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
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