Psalm 42:5-11
“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. My soul is cast down within me; therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I 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 deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 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.”
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I 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 deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 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.”
Have you known Christian people whose life’s are like a “roller coaster,” highs and lows? A life that goes through wild and unpredictable changes is 99.9 percent of the time lived by feelings and not by faith in the Author of all Scripture. Often such people are a deterrent to those outside the church that are watching them.
As we explore this Psalmist, we will see that he was referring to himself and in his depression in commanding himself to hope in God, and only in God! To my knowledge, I’ve never experienced deep depression, but I have many friends that have and some run to doctors and get drugs that change them, some have suicidal thoughts and others have taken their lives after being put on such medications.
But not this Psalmist, he ran to the only source that can change a person’s mind, he ran to God, and he also went back to his own experiences in watching God do amazing things, and he held on to those. When you look at verse 9, you get a great picture of his state of mind, where he places his focus, on God, my rock.
The Psalmist enemies would ask, “Where is your God,” for they did not believe God cared for His people, how wrong they were. One thing I’ve observed in watching those who oppose God is they keep going back to the same old attack, and for maybe the first time we have seen the game plan, do not acknowledge facts, keep telling the same lies often, and many will believe you.
The Psalmist gets to the answer for all who are attacked by depression, look at verse 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.”
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
r
r
No comments:
Post a Comment