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Psalm 43:1-5
Psalm 43 is a continuation of Psalm 42, again repeating and ending with the line:
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.
Psalm 43 is meant to be a repetition. The psalms are meant to be a repetition. They are meant to remind us of the same principles over and over again. The principles are all here in Psalm 43:
The psalmist is crying out to God to vindicate him. He is brutally honest in his prayer for rescue.
He wholeheartedly affirms that God is his stronghold. He is firmly holding on to God in the midst of the war raging all around him. Yet simultaneously he asks why God has rejected him.
He keeps his hope in God’s dwelling place. He knows this is where true peace is found. He doesn’t discard God because he is currently going through a negative circumstance, he holds on to God as the one who wins the ultimate victory. In the midst of his suffering, in the midst of God not answering his prayer, he worships God and dreams of intimately dwelling with God. As he dreams this dream, thinking of this future reality, he (for the third time) asks his soul why it is so downcast and disturbed. He again (for the third time) tells his soul to put its hope in God and he chooses to praise God for his salvation and power.
This world will be full of problems and struggle. We can go through it with an unbiblical view that God is always going to make everything perfect (and if he doesn’t, we reject him). Or we can go through it with God giving us his strength. With finding joy in our salvation and keeping our hope in God’s ultimate victory over sin and death.
Invitation to reflection:
Prayer for the day: God, thank you that you are my refuge and my strength. Send me your light and faithful care, let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. I long to be where you dwell. Help me to sense your presence here with me now.
He is:
Author of Beyond the Battle: A man's guide to his identity in Christ in an oversexualized world
Host of the The Flip Side Podcast
Join an online men's small group led by Noah and team at BeyondTheBattle.net
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