Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! 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. 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 and my God.
Psalm 43
Sadness, and even feeling rejection from God, are struggles that we face as Christians. Although we know that we have joy in God and that, in Christ, God has accepted us as His own children, we wrestle against sin in our hearts so that we don’t always hold these realities before us. In these times there is nothing more encouraging than to see the same struggles in the Psalms. Not only is it encouraging, but it is instructing. We get to listen in on the infallible, inspired prayers of saints who struggled with the same things that we do.
In Psalm 43, the psalmist is wrestling with feeling rejected by God, “For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have You rejected me?” (v.2) He was ‘mourning,’ (v.2) ‘cast down,’ (v.5) and ‘in turmoil.’ (v.5) This came about from the ‘oppression of the enemy.’ (v.2) There was a trial that overtook this psalmist and he was overwhelmed and brought down. What was he going to do? How was he going to revive himself again? We see his answer in verse 3.
“Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.” (v.3-4) The solution to his melancholy was to come before God. The way he was going to be revived was by coming before his exceeding joy, which was found in worshiping his God. However, he could not approach Him any way he wanted to. He called out that God would send out His truth and lead him to come worship the True God.
The solution to recovering from sadness and a state of not being able to praise God (notice his hope in knowing that he would again praise God, meaning he was only unable for a time) was being lead by the Scriptures. It was being carried into God’s presence by His truth, that is, His word. The cure for being cast down is not found in anything else other than the Bible.
The way in which we must approach God is not found anywhere other than in the Bible. God is the cure for all sin and all of its effects on our bodies. We will not fix our problems by relying on any type of seven-step program to a happier job, marriage, parenthood, or anything that is not saturated in the Scriptures alone. The solution to the multi-faceted problem of sin (and all its effects) is God. This God must be known and approached through the Word. He must be approached through the atonement of Christ. We must pray to Him with a mediator standing between us, who is Christ. We must call out on the Name of the One True God, and not the god of our imagination. If left to our own thinking, we will never know Him, much less appear before Him.
How does Psalm 43 instruct us with regard to sorrow? The cry of verse 3 is the cry of desperation. He has either exhausted all other ways of trying to appear before his God or he knew the futility of all other ways besides God’s truth. He cries out because there is nothing else that can lead us into God’s exceeding joyful presence other than His Spirit working through His Word. This will make us fall on our knees, with God’s Word open before us, crying out that He use it to lead us into the spiritual worship of His glorious, perfect, trustworthy, encouraging, joyful Name.
Sadness and the Scriptures
Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! 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. 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 and my God.
Psalm 43
Sadness, and even feeling rejection from God, are struggles that we face as Christians. Although we know that we have joy in God and that, in Christ, God has accepted us as His own children, we wrestle against sin in our hearts so that we don’t always hold these realities before us. In these times there is nothing more encouraging than to see the same struggles in the Psalms. Not only is it encouraging, but it is instructing. We get to listen in on the infallible, inspired prayers of saints who struggled with the same things that we do.
In Psalm 43, the psalmist is wrestling with feeling rejected by God, “For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have You rejected me?” (v.2) He was ‘mourning,’ (v.2) ‘cast down,’ (v.5) and ‘in turmoil.’ (v.5) This came about from the ‘oppression of the enemy.’ (v.2) There was a trial that overtook this psalmist and he was overwhelmed and brought down. What was he going to do? How was he going to revive himself again? We see his answer in verse 3.
“Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.” (v.3-4) The solution to his melancholy was to come before God. The way he was going to be revived was by coming before his exceeding joy, which was found in worshiping his God. However, he could not approach Him any way he wanted to. He called out that God would send out His truth and lead him to come worship the True God.
The solution to recovering from sadness and a state of not being able to praise God (notice his hope in knowing that he would again praise God, meaning he was only unable for a time) was being lead by the Scriptures. It was being carried into God’s presence by His truth, that is, His word. The cure for being cast down is not found in anything else other than the Bible.
The way in which we must approach God is not found anywhere other than in the Bible. God is the cure for all sin and all of its effects on our bodies. We will not fix our problems by relying on any type of seven-step program to a happier job, marriage, parenthood, or anything that is not saturated in the Scriptures alone. The solution to the multi-faceted problem of sin (and all its effects) is God. This God must be known and approached through the Word. He must be approached through the atonement of Christ. We must pray to Him with a mediator standing between us, who is Christ. We must call out on the Name of the One True God, and not the god of our imagination. If left to our own thinking, we will never know Him, much less appear before Him.
How does Psalm 43 instruct us with regard to sorrow? The cry of verse 3 is the cry of desperation. He has either exhausted all other ways of trying to appear before his God or he knew the futility of all other ways besides God’s truth. He cries out because there is nothing else that can lead us into God’s exceeding joyful presence other than His Spirit working through His Word. This will make us fall on our knees, with God’s Word open before us, crying out that He use it to lead us into the spiritual worship of His glorious, perfect, trustworthy, encouraging, joyful Name.