GOOD QUESTION

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Psalm 42:3-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we think about life, we have to think about the God who made it all possible, the God who always does the impossible. This God made all that we know including every one of us. And this God loved us, the people He created, so much that He sacrificed His only Son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins and then offered us a chance to have eternal life. All we had to do was believe and trust in Jesus as our Savior.  

So with this, with knowing we have an omnipotent God on our side and a future eternal life ahead because of our belief in Jesus, why would we ever feel depressed about anything?

Good question.

But it happens doesn’t it? Maybe it has happened to you.

People know what they have in God and Christ and yet you could never tell there was an ounce of hope within them based on their attitude and life outlook. Often when this happens, you can’t tell the Christian from those who are truly hopeless, those who have decided to not accept the salvation invitation Jesus offers. It can and will happen to anyone if they’re not careful.

Look at David’s words in the 42nd Psalm. David was touted as a man after God’s own heart, thus was his faith and trust in his Maker. And yet look at these verses:

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.

David is fully opening up his heart and spilling out his feelings to his readers. And as we read what he wrote, we can see that he is confused as to why he is feeling the way he is. Do you not sense that? I mean, it was pretty obvious as he pondered:

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?”

Indeed, why was his soul downcast and disturbed?

Good question.

Why would he ever wonder if God had forgotten him?

Good question.

God had delivered David through so much and yet David questioned whether God had lost interest in him. He forgot that God had promised to never leave nor forsake His faithful ones. David forgot that God had worked greater miracles, much greater, than fixing the problems he was going through. He had lost faith in the only source of hope he had, in the Lord who directed His love to David every day and placed His song in David’s heart each night.

Yes, David allowed his life circumstances to take his focus away from the One who had been his help, was still his help, and would always be his help. And we are guilty of the same thing.

For although we know how much we have going for us, how abundantly blessed we are in the Lord, we opt to act as if we don’t have any hope when through Christ Jesus we have the perfect hope, a hope that will never fade or perish. We have everything going for us. And yet, we allow ourselves to be spiritually depressed like David. It makes me wonder:

Why we, like David, sometimes allow our tears to be our food day and night?

Why we, like David, sometimes find our souls downtrodden?

Why we, like David, feel forgotten or forsaken?

Good question.

Why do we end up like this? Because we lose sight of the Lord in our lives, the Lord who never turns away from us even though we might turn from Him. We forget, as the scriptures remind us, that the Lord directs His love to us during the day and places His song in our hearts at night. We forget that He never turns away from us, even when we turn away from Him.  

So how do we break out of the spiritual and emotional funk we can find ourselves in? How do we tear down the veil of despair that can cover our hearts and bring darkness where there once was light?

Good questions - and God has the answer in our scripture passage. Consider this exhortation:

“Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

The way out of our spiritual depression is as close to us as the noses on the fronts of our faces. It’s too easy.

For we need to only refocus on God and put our hope back in Him, the only One who is hope in our lives, the only One who can do all things for us, the One who has already blessed us in abundance.

Friends, something awesome happens when we do this. We find our way back to an attitude of praise, praise to our Savior and our God, the source of our hope, the source of everything we are, everything we have, and everything that will be in our future.

God is good all the time. His steadfast love for us endures forever. And a day is yet to come when all who placed their faith and trust in Jesus will find themselves living in the presence of God and Jesus forever, free from hurt, free from pain, free from sin, and free from despair and depression. We will be truly free to live and love forever. We can’t ever forget this.

For with this knowledge, why wouldn’t we live every day in joy?

Good question.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com