Reading: Psalm 43-45

QUESTIONS
  • Psalm 40: What are you waiting patiently (or maybe not so patiently) on the Lord for? Have you cried out to Him about it? Ask the Lord to give you His perspective on this so you can praise Him continually.
  • Psalm 41: When was the last time you said to God, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!”? If you can’t think of anything you have done against the Lord, ask Him to bring it to mind and then spend some time repenting.
  • Psalm 42 says, “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.” When you are feeling sad or depressed, scared or in turmoil, turn to God. He can handle anything you take to Him. He cares about you.  He wants you to go to Him first with any cares or concerns. Try this today!
DEVOTION

As a young Christian, I used to sift through the Psalms and read only the cheerful and encouraging parts while skimming over and ignoring the parts that referred to suffering. The hard parts were uncomfortable. They weren’t fun or uplifting. It was a bit depressing to read about all the bad things mentioned. It took several years before the Lord showed me how I needed to engage with the parts that were challenging. As it turns out suffering is a deeply important part of the book of Psalms. 

We see in these three Psalms, three different kinds of struggles. In Psalm 40, David refers to his brokenness overtaking him. He feels flooded and overwhelmed by the vast number of evils that have surrounded him so thickly that he feels he cannot even see clearly. In Psalm 41, David seems to be struggling with a serious physical illness. His enemies rejoice in thinking that he might finally die and be forgotten. In Psalm 42, the psalmist reflects on good times in the past. He remembers historical spiritual mountains and contrasts them with the bewildering grief and discouragement he feels in the present. 

While these three struggles are not universal, the godly way that the psalmist deals with them is something we all can apply whenever we find ourselves in difficult places. We notice that the psalmist praises God in the very midst of the difficulty. In doing so, he remembers the truth about who God is and how He operates. From Psalm 41, “the Lord protects him and keeps him alive,” “the Lord sustains him,” “you delight in me,” “you have upheld me,” and “blessed be the Lord!” The psalmist pours out praise for God, His attributes, and His past deeds in the very middle of the challenge. 

Additionally, the psalmist names his heart hurts and goes on to instruct his heart with truth. “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” Ps 42:5. Rather than allowing his feelings to direct his beliefs and behavior, he acknowledges the hard feelings and then subjects them to a godly command. “Hope in God” Ps 42:5, 11. He doesn’t discount the feeling. Instead, he brings the feeling into the light and then tells himself the Truth which is grounded on who God is and how God sees him. The feelings are not his guide for what he believes to be truth. Rather, the Truth helps him take God’s perspective and put his feelings in an appropriate place. They matter and their purpose is to help the psalmist draw close to God in vulnerability. The feelings are not designed to dictate how he behaves or what he focuses on.

This decision to believe truth in spite of the suffering and in the context of hard feelings allows the psalmist to take actions that seem so humanly unnatural in the midst of suffering. “I waited patiently for the Lord,” Ps 40:1, “I will proclaim and tell of [His multiplied wondrous deeds and thoughts towards us]” Ps 40:5, “I delight to do your will,” Ps 40:8, “I have told the glad news of deliverance,” Psalm 40:9, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation,” Ps 40:10, and from Psalm 42:5,11, “I shall again praise him.” Those actions don’t sound like those of a man weighed down by the struggles described. Instead, he is acknowledging his feelings, crying out to God, and inviting God’s truth to minister to his hurt. From that humble and vulnerable place, he then instructs his heart in the truth. He chooses to remember the faithfulness of God in the past. He also reminds himself that God’s character is fixed. He is good, He is sovereign, and He is working things out for good. Therefore, the psalmist remembers that he can wait for the Lord. He can hope in God. He can say with confidence, “as for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.” Ps 40:17. 

It is in this posture that we are best able to engage with suffering of many kinds. Humble, weary, spent, and vulnerable, we cry out to God, praise Him and remind ourselves of who He is. He is good and He takes thought for each one of us. We can praise God for the suffering that He allows, because in it, we find ourselves wholly dependent on Him, and He inclines to us and hears our cry. He draws us up from the pits we find ourselves in and sets our feet upon a rock. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen.” Ps 41:13

– Kristin Barnes