Psalm 42:5

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This evening’s Bible passage is Psalm 42:5:

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.

The same words are repeated in Psalm 42:11 and 43:5, leading some to believe that Psalms 42 and 43 were once a single song of praise and that these words formed a chorus. Three times, the psalmist engages in the same dialogue with his soul, demanding to know why his soul is “downcast” and “in turmoil” and pleading with his soul to “hope in God” even in the midst of troubles that make him feel as though God has “forgotten” (42:9) and “rejected” (43:2) him. Whatever his feelings toward God may be in the present, though, he assures his soul that he will “again praise” the God who is his “salvation.” 

The psalmist sets no time frame for the restoration of his praise. Twenty-first century suppliers promise overnight delivery. Technology allows real-time contact by phone or computer with loved ones who live thousands of miles away. Even Christians are tempted to measure God’s lovingkindness by the speed with which he answers our prayers. But hope is a counter-cultural virtue. Hope has no schedule.

As Christians, we are born again into a “living hope.” Our “inheritance” in Christ is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,” but its full glory will only be “revealed in the last time.” The apostle Peter wrote (1 Pet. 1:3-5):

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials.

Christian hope rejoices in the promises of God even in the midst of “various trials.” Why, then, are our souls sometimes “downcast” and “in turmoil”? Because God’s blessings in this life are uneven. Some live long and prosper. Other struggle with ill health or severe depression. Some are rich; others are poor. Some exercise power; others are oppressed. Some survive a pandemic unharmed; others die. We don’t know why. Prayer for immediate remedies may be answered in the way we want, but they may not. Christians are human; we respond emotionally to our circumstances. Jesus was human, too. He experienced very different emotions at the Wedding in Cana and in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s okay for us to be like Jesus in this respect.

Psalm 43 almost ends with a burst of confident hope:

³ Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

But the psalmist can’t resist a third chorus of “Why are you so cast down, O my soul?” God-given hope faces pain and suffering honestly. It prays for speedy relief, but adds “Thy will be done.” At the same time, Christian hope also looks forward with full confidence to the time when God “will wipe away every tear, … and death shall be no more.” Sooner or later, we shall again praise God as our “exceeding joy.”

Your brother in Christ,

Max