Slices
Prepare
Recognise your need of God. Pray for a fresh meeting with him today.
Bible passage
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my 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 people 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 to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
6 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, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
Psalm 43
1 Vindicate me, my God,
and plead my cause
against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
deceitful and wicked.
2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
3 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.
4 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.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
Explore
What a contrast with what we have been reading in Jeremiah. The people of Judah were set on ignoring God; here is someone who longs to meet with God (v 2). The writer’s situation is not completely clear. He can’t get to Jerusalem to join in the Temple worship of Israel, but we are not told why. His unfulfilled longings leave him in a dark place (42:5,9,11; 43:2,5). The taunts of others make the pain worse (v 10). These notes are being written a year into the coronavirus pandemic and many are feeling the same longing to worship with others; worshipping together sustains our faith. But while the main focus here is on corporate worship, the psalm also speaks of personal longing for a deeper sense of God’s presence.
Whatever the circumstances, if we are finding that God seems distant, we can be encouraged by this psalm. Yes, it may be tough and dark, and we may feel alone. We may even feel that God has deserted us. But we can, like the psalmist, hang on in the knowledge that the time will come when we can praise again – a recurring refrain in the psalm (42:5,11; 43:5). In times of darkness that may not be easy. It may even be impossible, which is why contact with other Christians is so important.
Respond
Pray for the worship of your church today, that it might bring a sense of joy in the presence of God.
Deeper Bible study
Acknowledge to God the ups and downs of the past week, both in tackling a tough set of Bible passages and in life in general.
Peter Gabriel, on his album So, sings a magnificent duet with Kate Bush entitled ‘Don’t give up’. He takes the role, in the verses, of a man who has no fight left, a loser who can’t take any more. She, in the refrain, sings a message of hope, reassurance and encouragement: ‘Don’t give up’. Similarly, these two psalms give us three stanzas in which the singer, deep in depression, laments his separation from God with vivid imagery of drought (42:1), an overwhelming flood (42:7) and public humiliation (42:3,10; 43:1). Yet each time there’s the refrain ‘Put your hope in God’ (42:5,11; 43:5).
This could be Jeremiah’s theme song. Beset on every side with the demands of God and the realities of life, he could easily be tempted to give up. These psalms give a tidy response. First, self-pity is rebuked. Why do you let yourself feel this way (42:5,11; 43:5)? Second, there is the recollection of better times, processing to the Temple and the experience of God’s love, or an acknowledgement of God’s nature as a stronghold, the source of light and truth. Finally, there is a clear statement of intent: ‘I will praise’, ‘I will remember’, ‘I will go to the altar’, ‘I will sing and play praise to God’.
Spiritual depression is not uncommon. Most, if not all, of us will have experienced times when we’ve felt distanced from God. Prayer seemed unanswered, praise merely words, our faith was running on empty. Here we have a structure for responding to such times. First, we recognise and reject a focus totally on ourselves. Second, we remind ourselves of who God is and what he’s done. Third, we commit ourselves to a course of action, moving towards him. Then, let the living water flow.
Make a clear note of the three stages of recognising, reminding and recommitting. Place the note where you will see it every day.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 4–6; Mark 10
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the extension of SU Pakistan’s ministry work across more cities of Pakistan and for more female staff for their field ministry.
