“Why, my soul, are you downcast?”

Daily Reading: Genesis 43, Psalm 43, Mark 15, Proverbs 12

Vindicate me, my God,
and plead my cause
against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
deceitful and wicked.

You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?

Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43

Spending time in Psalms every day this year has been life giving for my soul.

There have been seasons in my life where I read through Psalms, but largely as a daily discipline reading the Bible without taking the time to slow down, process the words of the author, and meditate upon them.

It is easy to read sermons given by Jesus, the book of Proverbs, or letters from Paul and pick out verses every day that are extremely tangible and easy to apply to our own lives today.

That is not always the case with Psalms, and as a result, when I am in an intellectual mindset towards my Bible reading, it is easy to just skim through it.

This year has been different.

We live in a world that feels more chaotic and more uncertain than ever before in my 44 years on this planet. It seems like every day there is a new crisis. 

There are very real challenges across the globe that are leading to millions of people that are seeing their lives completely upended. Along with this, we have never had more access to real time information from every corner of the earth due to the internet and social media.

The weight of everything can be overwhelming.

There have probably been moments for most of us already this year where we have felt like the psalmist today.

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?”

The reason I have loved my time in Psalms this year is that we see authors frequently wrestling with deep despair, depression, anxiety, and a general feeling of being far from God. However, in the same breath we also see a desperate desire to seek the Lord regardless of circumstance.

We see:

You are God my stronghold.

Immediately followed by:

Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?

Transitioning into:

Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.

We read our author speaking directly to their own soul:

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

I want this to be my default.

When I feel far from God. When everything I see in the world feels crushing. When there are very real challenges in my life. When I wonder why God allows things to take place.

I want my default to be turning to God. 

I want to form the habit of always bringing him the full weight of what I am feeling, and coaching my own soul to return to a posture of praise.

Thank you Lord for your Psalms.

Thank you for using them to speak to us thousands of years later.

Daily Reflection & Dialogue

How did today’s Psalm speak to you?