Psalm 42 and 43

Most people who have come across these Psalms have probably been pointed in their direction in the context of depression, and for that purpose they are indeed useful. They talk about a feeling of oppression, of distance from and an inaccessibility to God, as well a continued feeling of being ‘down’ even in the presence of reasons not to be, and these are all experiences that I along with many of my brethren can associate with periods when we have fell into periods of depression. Despite their usefulness for the encouragement of the Christian in this context, it would be a sad situation if we were to put on this passage a label of “For specific purposes only”, and didn’t attempt to look a little deeper to see what we can learn of God through what is recorded here.

In these Psalms, we find the Psalmist main cause for concern is his present situation, and in particular his lack of access to temple. It would seem that the Psalmist is in some sort of exile, he mentions that he will remember the Lord “from the heights of Hermon” (42:6), which for the benefit of those without a map at the back of their bibles is located north of Israel. In addition to this, he speaks of remembering the times he was “leading the procession to the house of God”, which would imply that he no longer is able to do so.

So, physically he is separated from the presence of God, but what can be said of the Psalmist’s spiritual condition? The way in which he addresses God gives us an insight into his relation with God. Although his questions seem to show doubts, such as “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning oppressed by the enemy?” (42:9), the Psalmist can still talk of God being his God and Saviour (42:5,11, 43:5), his Rock (42:9) and talk of God’s love being directed (42:8). This is a man who is clearly trusting in God, and has a very much personal relationship with Him. Although he is separated physically from the place where he can meet God, he enjoys a trusting and loving relationship with him. His faith is shown all the more by the Psalmists focus in trying to answer the feeling of his soul, in the refrain of the Psalm:

“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”

As Christians, we find ourselves in a similar position to the Psalmist here. Although we are in relationship with God, we are still not where we should be; we are not yet in Zion, in the presence of God, and along with the Psalmist will find ourselves with doubts and under oppression and mocking from those around us (42:9-10). We too can join in the prayer of 43:1-4 for rescue from an ungodly nation (v. 1) and a drawing into the presence of God (v. 3). In addition to what the means of this vindication will be, that is that we know now that Christ, after coming first as Saviour to save his people through the cross, will return as judge to bring those who know and trust in Him into the presence of God and to condemn the wicked and ungodly men to an eternal judgement. In the meantime though, we will unfortunately share in the Psalmist’s experience, but we too are to place our hope in God and praise him for the sure hope that we have through Christ.

Bookbuying and Devotion

One thing I love about Belfast is the abundance of second hand bookshops to browse through. I'm not sure if it's more than most cities in the country, but it's certainly impressive when placed beside Oxford (a comment that I feel should be more surprising than it is). Anyhow, as a result, when I'm home I tend to pick up a fairly substantial number of books, and this short break has been no exception.

All of that was just background to the point I'm getting on to, as over the weekend I picked up a copy of "A Sure Guide to Heaven" by Joseph Alleine. In the Puritan Paperback reprint, there is a biographical introduction to Joseph, which includes an interesting insight into his committment to spending time with God. He was regularly awake at 4am to pray, read scripture and sing psalms. If he heard that a local smith or other worker was already working by then, the sound of their work drove him to shame, and he confided to a friend "O how their noise shames me! Doth not my master deserve more than theirs?". It's an amazing picture of a man wishing to give as much as he can to God.

The natural reaction to hearing about these Godly people is to compare their devotion to your own life, and the obvious thing to first focus on is the committment to wake early. I struggle to wake for 7.30 in the morning, and hearing the sound of binmen already working is more likely to invoke a wish for them to keep quiet and let me sleep rather than a shame in my devotion to God. The other issue was noticing that Mr. Alleine continued his devotion until 8am, which leads me to face whether I would be able to focus for that length of time. I don't have the greatest powers of concentration, and I tend to hide behind that as an excuse for my lack of self discipline when it comes to personnal study.

We claim to live such busy lives today, the truth is I know I could make time in those sort of proportions. My failure to do so simply reflects how hideously jumbled up my priorities are. It's a good thing, therefore, to be faced up with these past models to allow me to be faced up with how far short my life draws up.