153. A Call from Deep Sorrows

Psalm 42-43

In these two Psalms, we read admonitions to put our hope in God. The scene portrays an author who is parched for God’s presence, sorrowful unto tears in distress, swallowed up in grief, who feels forsaken by God and oppressed by his enemies, and he longs to put his hope in God. He cries out to God, reminds himself of God’s glory, and instructs himself to hope in God. One of the most beautiful aspects of the transparent struggle of this author is that the cycle happens three times; he oscillates between crying out, remembering, and admonishing himself repeatedly. But ultimately he lands on the fact that God is his God and he will yet praise Him. Let us do the same.