PULLING ONESELF TOGETHER
Opening Prayer
Lord, we are so grateful to know that You are there for us.
Read PSALMS 42,43
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
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
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.
Psalm 43
1 Vindicate me, my God,
and plead my cause
against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
deceitful and wicked.
2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
3 Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Hear this invitation to let yourself go in God’s presence: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God” (Psa. 42:1).
Think Further
These two psalms begin Part II of the psalter as a single psalm. They introduce the collection of songs from Israel’s worship leaders (the family dynasty of Korah), characterized by the Hebrew name Elohim (God) rather than Yahweh (LORD) of earlier Davidic psalms. Without the references to David’s life which we find in his compositions, they are less personal but still anchored in the history and geography of Israel. We readily hear in them our universal cries to God. Three times comes the refrain, “Why, my soul, are you downcast?… Put your hope in God” (42:5,11; 43:5). As in Psalm 41, the pain of human existence butts up against an affirmation of faith in the majestic but personal God who has only the best interests at heart for the people he has made and redeems.
In Songs from a Strange Land: Psalms 42–51, John Goldingay suggests three headings for the three stanzas of the combined psalm—letting oneself go, making oneself think, pulling oneself together—as a progression to bringing clarity to one’s painful situation. Rehearsing one’s troubles is ultimately not helpful if we remain in the cave of despondency. Recalling God’s past goodness to us, however, moves us on to affirming that he is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Finally, pulling oneself together is a proactive response to God’s goodness and includes using festivals and worship rituals (43:3,4) to bolster our confidence in God.
Many of the images and words here are familiar—from hearing the psalms and also because they populate our contemporary songs. For example, during a time of crippling complexity when I didn’t know which way to turn, “deep calls to deep” (42:7) reminded me that whatever bottomless pit I found myself in, God was already there and understood what was going on, even when I could not get my head around it.
Apply
Affirmation of the great truths of God is Peter’s bulwark against the coming persecution. Are you letting God’s word future- proof you against whatever is coming?
Closing prayer
Lord, as the deer pants for water, Your people long for You because You are our sustenance.
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