Psalm 42 – The Rock and the rocky.
I have found this Psalm to be such a comfort, such an inspiration, such and encouragement.
(Read ‘Thirsty for what?’, ‘Longing for you’, ‘Too much!’, ‘Two men in a boat’, and ‘Hymns in the night’). It’s an awesome Psalm!
It is a Psalm that is full of life; it’s full of hurt overcome by hope, pain enveloped by praise. It is a Psalm of rescue, of salvation, of God’s faithfulness throughout our troubles. It is a Psalm that teaches us, no matter how dark the night gets, to keep our eyes fixed on Christ (our hope, our salvation, our rescue) because the dawn is coming! Because fusion is here.
We’ve reached the last few verses of this Psalm and so here is my final reflection.
As Christians we often fall into the trap of thinking that our lives should be perfect, and when they aren’t we get frustrated. This perfect life mentality is an expectation that our media has instilled in us. We are never sold a true image of life and so we have developed a desire for a ‘perfect’ (i.e. unrealistically ideal) family, job, house, car, finances, the lot. This has even crept into our faith in places.
Life is confusing. It is full of conflicts. God does not promise us perfection, as we are sold it on TV, but He says that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Ever. That’s His perfection! That is His unfailing promise. He is our joy.
But we are not always full of faith. Sometimes our storms cause us to doubt and our minds slip a little. The disciples even questioned on one occasion whether Jesus even cared if they drowned! Did they really think that this man who they had seen filled with an awesome compassion for people, would suddenly stop caring?! Storms have a tendency of doing that, distracting us from the things that we are sure of.
Psalm 42:9-10 (NIV)
I say to God my Rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?"
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"
The opening two lines of v9 have really encouraged and strengthened me.
How can the Psalmist start his sentence by declaring that God is his rock, his security, his strength, the one thing in his life that doesn’t move, and then in his next breathe ask why God has forgotten him?!
It is reassuringly familiar isn’t it.
Does that remind you of your prayers at times? I see a lot of myself in these words!
I’m sure you have reminded yourself that God will never leave you and yet in the same thought questioned if He is there at all. Does this undermine or even threaten God? No, it just confirms that we are alive here on earth and not yet in heaven. We may think that we are such weak Christians for thinking this way, but we are not. In heaven we will know all things just as we are known, but here we live by faith. Sometimes this gets knocked about a bit by life. But faith is our bodyguard, our shield! It takes the fatal blows leaving us protected, but it never perishes!
But we do not have to stay in the neighbourhood of doubt and uncertainty. We belong to God, we are His. With this assurance, even as our heart breaks, we can ask …
Psalm 42:11 (NIV)
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
We may find ourselves in a storm. Where waves surround us, but we know who is our rescue, our redemption. We can sing praises with an honest heart even when we hurt. We wear our rescue for all the world to see so that they too can raise a hand above the waves. Our lives are living testimonies to God’s rescue. They are not finished stories, the people we share our lives with watch them being written every day. As they see, through us, God’s hand authoring every chapter, they can begin to realise that this hope we have is real and that rescue and redemption is for them too.
Life is not about the storms, it is about redemption and hope and in this joy. Deep joy.
I will praise Him, my Saviour and my God!
(Read ‘Thirsty for what?’, ‘Longing for you’, ‘Too much!’, ‘Two men in a boat’, and ‘Hymns in the night’). It’s an awesome Psalm!
It is a Psalm that is full of life; it’s full of hurt overcome by hope, pain enveloped by praise. It is a Psalm of rescue, of salvation, of God’s faithfulness throughout our troubles. It is a Psalm that teaches us, no matter how dark the night gets, to keep our eyes fixed on Christ (our hope, our salvation, our rescue) because the dawn is coming! Because fusion is here.
We’ve reached the last few verses of this Psalm and so here is my final reflection.
As Christians we often fall into the trap of thinking that our lives should be perfect, and when they aren’t we get frustrated. This perfect life mentality is an expectation that our media has instilled in us. We are never sold a true image of life and so we have developed a desire for a ‘perfect’ (i.e. unrealistically ideal) family, job, house, car, finances, the lot. This has even crept into our faith in places.
Life is confusing. It is full of conflicts. God does not promise us perfection, as we are sold it on TV, but He says that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Ever. That’s His perfection! That is His unfailing promise. He is our joy.
But we are not always full of faith. Sometimes our storms cause us to doubt and our minds slip a little. The disciples even questioned on one occasion whether Jesus even cared if they drowned! Did they really think that this man who they had seen filled with an awesome compassion for people, would suddenly stop caring?! Storms have a tendency of doing that, distracting us from the things that we are sure of.
Psalm 42:9-10 (NIV)
I say to God my Rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?"
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"
The opening two lines of v9 have really encouraged and strengthened me.
How can the Psalmist start his sentence by declaring that God is his rock, his security, his strength, the one thing in his life that doesn’t move, and then in his next breathe ask why God has forgotten him?!
It is reassuringly familiar isn’t it.
Does that remind you of your prayers at times? I see a lot of myself in these words!
I’m sure you have reminded yourself that God will never leave you and yet in the same thought questioned if He is there at all. Does this undermine or even threaten God? No, it just confirms that we are alive here on earth and not yet in heaven. We may think that we are such weak Christians for thinking this way, but we are not. In heaven we will know all things just as we are known, but here we live by faith. Sometimes this gets knocked about a bit by life. But faith is our bodyguard, our shield! It takes the fatal blows leaving us protected, but it never perishes!
But we do not have to stay in the neighbourhood of doubt and uncertainty. We belong to God, we are His. With this assurance, even as our heart breaks, we can ask …
Psalm 42:11 (NIV)
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
We may find ourselves in a storm. Where waves surround us, but we know who is our rescue, our redemption. We can sing praises with an honest heart even when we hurt. We wear our rescue for all the world to see so that they too can raise a hand above the waves. Our lives are living testimonies to God’s rescue. They are not finished stories, the people we share our lives with watch them being written every day. As they see, through us, God’s hand authoring every chapter, they can begin to realise that this hope we have is real and that rescue and redemption is for them too.
Life is not about the storms, it is about redemption and hope and in this joy. Deep joy.
I will praise Him, my Saviour and my God!
posted by Andrew at 6:26 am
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