Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God (Psalm 42:11).
Ever been in a fight with your own emotions? Mentally you know the truth but emotionally you are just not there. Spiritually you know God exists and never forsakes you but emotionally you simply cannot feel His presence and feel abandoned and alone.
I love the Psalms because they remind me that the spiritual life is often an emotional struggle. There is nothing in Scripture that says that once we know God, everything in life becomes easy and troublefree. We like to believe that but nothing in Scripture teaches it. In fact, Paul and Barnabas in their missionary journeys went around “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said” (Acts 14:22). Part of Paul and Barnabas’ ministry was to remind believers of one simple fact, “Life is tough, especially for believers seeking the kingdom of heaven.” This doesn’t sound very encouraging…except when you are struggling with life and with your faith and you suddenly realize that you are “normal.” You are not out of God’s will…in fact, you may be right in the middle of it.
The writer of this psalm is in the same boat. He remembers times of spiritual joy and delight. Times when the presence of God was so close he could touch it. Now is not one of those times. God seems distant, uninvolved, unreal. He pants for God as a deer pants for streams of water. He cries. He struggles with depression. He is mocked by others. He feels overwhelmed and alone. He physically aches.
In the midst of all this, he starts to talk to himself. “Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” In fact, he asks this question to himself three times (42:5, 11, 43:5). Why do I feel this way? What is going on inside of me? Why am I letting my circumstances dictate my emotions? Then he resolves within himself, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” Despite the circumstances, despite the lack of joy, despite the feeling of abandonment, the psalmist resolves to keep his eyes on God and praise Him. He literally praises his way out of the pit. Is that possible? Is that normal?
I think the only way out of an emotional pit is to stop focusing so much on the problems and start focusing on God. It is like Peter walking on the water in the midst of the storm…either he focused on Jesus and rose above the waters or he focused on the storm and sank.
I must choose what I focus upon. Sometimes this is a fight. Our eyes want to divert back to the problems. The psalmist has to repeat the same thing to himself three times (maybe even more) before his soul got in sync. This is not ignoring the problem but refusing to let the problem dictate your life. This is not running from the problem but rather running into the arms of the One who is bigger than anything we may face.
I know I needed to talk to myself this morning and remind myself who God is…maybe you need to too.