READING: Psalms 41-46, Romans 8:12-39
We often sing the chorus, “As the Deer” (one of my favorites), but I’m not sure we connect it rightly to the psalms that inspired it – Psalms 42 and 43. Scholars debate the setting of these psalms, but it seems the psalmist was for some reason separated from public worship with the people of God. Perhaps he was fleeing an enemy, but whatever the cause—he could only remember the days when he walked with joy as the procession of worshippers made their way to the temple. Now, he could not get there, and his enemies taunted him at the same time.
What the psalmist did, though, was have a conversation with himself as if he were simply preaching the gospel to himself. He recurrently asked himself the question, “Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil?”; then he answered himself with hope: “Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psa 42:5). No matter what he faced, he remembered that God was his rock, his refuge, his song in the night. Somehow, his longing for God did not erase his faith that God was still with him.
How I pray I will have that kind of trust when I need it. He is still my Savior and my God.
PRAYER: “Lord, help me trust You even when I long for You.”
DAILY ACTION STEP: Read Psalms 42-43 several times today, and praise Him.
TOMORROW’S READING: Psalms 47-52, Romans 9:1-10:4