Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+043
Psalm 43 (ESV)
1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me!
2 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?
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.
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 and my God.
REFLECTION:
- Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
- What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation? What does God tell you to do?
- Have you ever asked “if God is ours, why must we suffer oppression? Why does He seem to reject us?” The psalmist did just that here. But then he asked to “Send forth your light” (God’s light meaning God’s Word), not so much to explain his troubles but to lead him back to God Himself (v4). What we need most when hurting is not answers, or even relief. What we need is to come into God’s presence, there to find hope and to offer praise.
- What are your struggles right now? Ask God to help you understand your own feelings of depression or despair. Also ask God to help you focus on Him and be ready to turn to him with your own depression and/or that of a troubled friend.
PRAYER:
Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.
HYMN:
To God, My Exceeding Joy – www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhxmNOGII5k
