Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again- my Savior and my God! Psalm 42: 11, NLT.
Holy Father, we come before You today to renew our hope. Please speak to our hearts words of encouragement. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
We are living in a time when discouragement is the order of the day. So many of us can identify with the psalmist. On July 10, our devotional was on the first two verses of this psalm. At that time I inadvertently referred to David, as the author of this psalm. The author is really Korah, a Levite, who was supposedly one of the leaders of the psalm writers’ guild. Now this is someone whose duty it was to make melody to the LORD. That was his life work. It was his duty to prepare and lead out in the singing during the worship services in the temple (2 Chronicles 20: 19). I am sure that you will agree with me that there is something about music that is written especially for the worship of God that has the power to “transport you to heavenly places!”
One of the means that God uses to pull me up and put me back on my feet when I am having a bad day, is by listening to, and oftentimes, singing, hymns, or gospel songs. In a matter of minutes into this season of praise, my burdens are lifted, and I am in “a better place!” I have said that to make the point that, even those who God uses to bring encouragement to others, can themselves become discouraged. I am not sure if that was the case with Korah, in writing this psalm, but it could very well have been. Today we will begin to look at some of the sentiments of this psalm.
“Day and night I have only tears for food while my enemies continually taunt me saying, “Where is this God of yours?” Does it sound familiar? For some strange reason people come to two basic conclusions: A Christian should never be sad; and, If a Christian is sad, it is a sign that God has abandoned him or her, or vice versa. Because of this, we Christians have mastered the art of concealing our pain. We are always “fine,” no matter how bad we are hurting! Let me hasten to explain that I have found that speaking joy, usually encourages a joyous feeling, and therefore, it is a very healthy thing to do. I am in no way advocating that we are to go around moping over our problems as if our God was dead! No! No! No!
What I am saying is, if you are hurting, and you just can’t seem to speak joy, it is not a sin! There will be times when the pain is so great, that you have to let it out. Then go ahead and let it out! God understands! Shame on those who don’t! “Jesus wept” as He witnessed the pain of Mary and Martha, and the hopelessness they were feeling. His tears were twofold, He felt their pain. He was also sad over the fact that even in the presence, of the Lifegiver; they were seemingly without hope (John 11: 21, 32, 35). But Jesus understood. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. When He realized that their “stiffneckedness” had led them to reject Him, their only hope of life eternal (Matthew 22: 37)! Did His weeping signify that He had lost hope in His Father? Not at all! He was hurting, and so He wept!
The beauty of this psalm is that it does not end on a note of sadness and despair! We will continue tomorrow.