Psalm 42 teaches us to preach hope to ourselves, “Hope in God for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (vv. We are already blessed since He promised, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. But if the reason we are downtrodden in spirit is not primarily due to our own sin, then we can take comfort because we share fellowship with Jesus in our suffering. If our own sin is the source, then we must set about the work of repentance. We ought to focus our thoughts and ask the question asked by the psalmist, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (Ps. In our own moments of despair, it is right for us to diagnose the cause of our plight. Consequently, He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He was willing, for the joy set before Him, to endure the cross, despising the shame (Heb. No, it was for our sake and for the glory of the Father that He was willing to suffer to the point of saying on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Jesus suffered agony and despair in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, but not for His own sin. In so doing, it connects us with the heart of our Savior who confessed during His passion, “Now is my soul troubled” (John 12:27). Psalm 42 directs us to talk to ourselves about our circumstances, distress, pain, and even despair. Physically ill and disabled bodies ache as the soul groans: “Why? How long?” Single people say, “I thought I’d be married by now.” Couples cry out, “When will God give us children?” The unemployed ask, “Why won’t You give me work, Lord, to support my family?” Why doesn’t God seem to provide the good gifts He promises? Why do enemies always seem to taunt? Perhaps the most difficult are those in which there is no evident sin standing between us and our desire. All of us struggle with unrealized desires, some of which deeply burden the soul. Psalm 42 expresses the longing of a soul for righteous things that have not been satisfied yet in this life or are absent for now. Perhaps the episode enabled more people to taste the despair that many Christians face regularly. In God’s mercy, many people were able to return to public worship after a few months. Saints remembered the times they had joined the crowds in worship now they wondered to God, “Why have you forgotten me?” (v. Those homes felt so much like “the land of Jordan and of Hermon, and from Mount Mizar” (v. The hearts of saints were cast down as they remembered God from their homes. When shall I come and appear before God?” (v. Our souls said: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Restrictions kept millions of people from the physical, public assembly of God’s people week after week. Psalm 42 came to life in new ways for many saints when Covid-19 initially hit.
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