We live in the land of smiles. Teenagers snap streams of goofy selfies. Families clad in coordinated outfits pose for happy portraits. Advertising models flash their sparkly eyes and glistening teeth on glossy magazine covers.
It makes one wonder: Is there any room for sadness in our world?
The writer of Psalm 42 & 43 sought solace in God through a season of deep sadness. As a wave of loneliness and despair washes over his soul, our poet repeatedly tries to pull himself out of the dark abyss of his depression:
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.
Life is filled with many sorrows, grief and losses. To be human is to hurt—we simply can’t avoid it. During seasons of loss and sadness, it’s often difficult to see or sense God through the gray fog that’s settled on our soul. We find God to be distant, aloof, uncaring.
The melancholy expressions of Psalms 42 & 43 offer support as we seek to understand and express our own losses. Here we find words that renew our hope in God—even as our souls continue to ache. One of the great mysteries of faith is that God’s greatest work in us is often built through the pain we wish would simply go away.
No matter the depth of your sadness, I pray you’ll find the strength of soul to continue to cry out to God. In our smiley world, its often easy to feel alone in our grief. So we hold tightly to this truth: even as we struggle to cling to God, he continues to hold on most tightly to each of us.
Kevin
enCompass Church
PS. As you read through Scripture, you’ll occasionally find chapter breaks in odd places. When the book of Psalms was assembled, the single piece of poetry of Psalm 42 & 43 was divided into two separate songs. It’s clearly evident that together they form a unified expression of seeking hope in God.
Voices of enCompass 