pslm.frty.tw

This chapter (Ps42) is epic. :)

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

³ My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

⁴ These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

⁵ Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and ⁶ my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

⁷ Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

⁸ By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God my Rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?"

¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

¹¹ Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Story of my life.

Haven't you ever sought after God with no apparent results? Have you ever had people question God's existence (well, if there IS a God, then why...)? Have you ever looked back at better times, when your faith stood unshakable and your joy complete?

This passage is incredibly depressing if you focus on certain parts of it.

"My tears have been my food day and night"

"My bones suffer mortal agony"

"...men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'"

But if you only latch on to all of the painnn and strifeee and trialsss and strugglesss, and just dwell in yours and the psalmists shared agony, misery, and overall emo-ness, you miss a HUGE aspect of the psalm.

What I love really like most about it is the psalmist's direct transition from admittance of grief to remembrance of God (v.6). boy, do i wish i could do that every time i become troubled. All too often I find myself (essentially) wallowing in the puddles of my own complaints, throwing fits, desperate for someone to commiserate with...

instead of turning around and shooting a sharp, disappointed, slap-in-the-face-y "What are you doing?" to my soul.

Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

take that little bit of extra time to remember who IS in control...

...and who isn't.

frankly.

I'm

pretty

grateful.

:D

-spncr-