Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why the unease within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him
For the salvation of His presence.
Psalm 42:5
Some days are just hard. Days when you’re tired, you’re stressed, exhausted and just not yourself. Sometimes you might begin to wonder if you’ve somehow started losing our own selves. But then again, do you know who you really are?
The Psalmist shares this sentiment here in Psalm 42, but his thought language is fascinating. He asks “why” and then he commands himself “Put your hope in God.” He doesn’t have to pretend to be okay when he really isn’t. He allows himself to admit his heart questions and wonders the cause and purpose of his circumstances. But then he immediately follows it up with a command to “Put your hope in God for I will yet praise Him”
I found it inspirationally convicting to see how he forces his hope to be placed in God. Not hope in his doctor saying, “the cancer is all gone.” Not hope in the “you’re hired” phone call. Not hope in hearing “I was wrong and sinned against you brother/sister. Will you forgive me?” conversation. Not hope in a “here’s a 20% raise for your hard work” surprise.
But his hope is in God himself. His hope is in the Jehovah Rapha our healer; not hope in healing the sickness. It would feel great to be healed from my years of physical pain and difficulties. But I would rather have God Himself with me through a painful life than to be distant from God Himself through a luxuriously comfortable life.
His hope is in God as Jehovah Jireh. My God shall provide all my needs according to His riches in glory. His hope is not in the provision, but the God who provides. The person. The Godhead. The One who does the providing. I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold.
His hope is in God’s heart of forgiveness. It can really hurt when people we thought were close friends offend us, betray us or distance themselves for no apparent reason. We have our own weaknesses, but did that other person really have to hurt us like that? … And when I force myself to remember how often and how deeply I have offended the God who has never and will never sin, I wonder how God can be so forgiving. But God is forgiving because Jesus has paid it all.
So remember brother or sister, our hope is in God Himself regardless of our current circumstances.
One final note. The Psalmist says “I will praise God.” There is an “I will” because the time is coming when I will be able to praise God in the future. It may be before I get to heaven; it maybe after. But I will praise God.
There’s also an “I will” because he is determined with intention to praise God. As he painfully wrestles the “whys” at the beginning of the verse, he concludes this verse the determination and hope of praising God.
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him
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