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with all their Soul
Your Biblical Identity in Christ
Psalm 42:1-11
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 42:11
- As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God. - My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God? - My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?” - 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. - 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. - My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. - Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me. - By day the Lord directs his love,
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 must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?” - My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?” - 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.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
• In Christ, I will live, even though I die; and by believing in Jesus, I will never die. My hope is built on nothing less.
Pondering Point
A soul can often get disturbed when one’s hopes are dashed or squashed. There is even a proverb (13:12) in the bible acknowledging that hope deferred makes a person sick. But not all hopes are equal. We hope for all kinds of things – from good weather to long life.
Christian writer John Eldredge draws a distinction between hopes of a casual nature ("I hope the stoplight stays green"), significant importance ("I hope her pregnancy goes full term") and crucial categories ("I hope that God can forgive me").
While suffering through a time of struggle, the writer of this psalm is reminding himself (and us) to put one’s hope in God. When you trust in God, times of suffering can still be met with hope and even praise for God – even when lesser hopes have left you disappointed. Maybe this is the lesson that led hymn-writer Edward Mote to pen:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
Is your soul sick? Are you disturbed within? Take a page out of the psalm writer’s book and put your hope in God. Do so, and praise will yet arise. As the Apostle Paul declares in Romans 5:5, hope in God does not disappoint.
Prayer
Father God,
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. Amen.