Prepare
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for this day and for the gift of every morning we wake. Comfort us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 42
Yearning for God in the Midst of Distresses
To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”
4 When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a breaking of my bones,
My enemies reproach me,
While they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 43
Prayer to God in Time of Trouble
1 Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 42–43:5.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Psalm 42 gives words to a soul thirsting for God while tears, grief, and absence from worship weigh it down. Psalm 43 continues the same plea for vindication, light, and truth. Their repeated refrain teaches downcast believers to hope in God and trust his loving comfort.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Psalm 42:11; 43:5
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God.
The transcript reads both psalms completely but never makes a Best Verse selection. The repeated refrain in Psalm 42:11 and Psalm 43:5 distills the devotion's message: speak hope in God to a downcast soul and look to him for restored praise.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
When grief makes your heart heavy, do not run from God. Cry out to the Lord and hope in him, trusting that those who are in Christ are welcomed, heard, loved, and comforted by the Holy Spirit.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Well, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions this Sunday morning. Deborah's question actually leads into something I wanted to have a heart-to-heart with you about, but this is where every day we get together. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee, and then I'm going to have a heart-to-heart with you, and we'll, well, let's pray first, and then we'll have the heart-to-heart. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you that every day that we wake up is a gift from you. We pray that you would comfort us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, if you've noticed the last few days, I have not been very good about getting this on here every single day. And to be honest with you, it's been a hard time for our family. So, my father-in-law died. And this was a man I was really close to and loved a lot. And so Olivia is out with her family and we'll be going out there this week. But this has been difficult for me to process in my heart and my soul.
And so it's not that I don't like doing this with you, but watching the three older kids and just still wrestling with this and doing a lot of prayer and thinking and Getting ready for his funeral, just wanted to have this heart-to-heart with you and let you know that this is what's going on in our lives, so if you can be praying for us.
Today's passages, though, are pretty apropos. They're really, although the Lord used them this morning as I was looking through them, to comfort my own heart. So why don't we go ahead and turn in our Bibles to Psalm 42 and 43. Psalm 42 and 43. To the chief musician, a contemplation of the sons of Korah. As a deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night. while they continually say to me, where is your God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with a multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with a voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim's feast.
Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted with me. Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Yeah, the help of his countenance, good. Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, and from the hill of Mizar. A deep calls unto deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and billows have gone over me.
The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song will be within me. My prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with breaking of my bones, my enemy, he's approached me. Re-approached me, yeah. Re-approached me. Will they say to me, all day long, where is your God?
Why are you cast down, my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God. Do sometimes Christians have hearts that are heavy? Sometimes are our souls cast down? And can we go to God even then? Yeah. Yet even then, right? Because is God's love and kindness still towards us? Is he still gracious? Yeah. Okay, let's do Psalm 43.
Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man, for you are the God of my strength. Why do you cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill. Then I will go to the altar of God. To God my exceeding joy and On the heart I will praise you, O God my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God. What should we do when we're sad? We should cry out to God and ask for help.
That's right. Do you think sometimes naturally we want to run away from God though? Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes we might. But here God is reminding us when we have a heavy heart. When we say, why are you cast down on my soul? He says, oh no, hold on, I have joy. And where's our joy and our hope? God. That's right. Our joy and our hope is in God. Is he always gracious to us? Is he always loving? It's pretty good news, isn't it? Yeah. Is it easy? It's not easy for us to cry out to God when we're running away from God. Yeah, but is that what we need to do? That's right. That's right. Where do you run when your heart is downcast? Where do you go when your soul is heavy?
Do you run to the Lord who we know is waiting for us if we are in Christ to comfort us and to care for us? He restores our joy. He gives us strength in Him. Let's go there together. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day and we thank you for your Holy Spirit. We thank you for the Comforter. We thank you that we know you hear our prayers and that you love us. Father, we pray that you would restore to us the joy of your salvation. We pray that even when our hearts are downcast, we might love you. Jesus's name. Amen. May God bless you today. May you have a wonderful time worshiping with his people, and I'll see you tomorrow morning. Bye.