Downcast and disturbed

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalms 43: 5).

There are many reasons why people are downcast and disturbed.  One of them is being abandoned by the beloved.  For example, we may be downcast and disturbed when we feel that we have been abandoned by our beloved spouse.  The same is true of children.  If they have been abandoned by their beloved parents, they may feel downcast and disturbed.  But what if we feel that we Christians have been forsaken by our Heavenly Father?

In the context of Psalms 43, the psalmist was downcast and disturbed because he felt that he had been forsaken by God.  He said, “You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me?  …” (v. 2).  He had been suffering because of “deceitful and wicked men” (v. 1).  And he was going about mourning because of oppression by the enemy (v. 2).  In the midst of such oppression and suffering, the psalmist was downcast and disturbed because he thought that the Lord, who was his stronghold, was not rescuing him.  He felt that God was abandoning him because God’s salvation was slow.  That was why when the psalmist was downcast and disturbed, this was what he asked God: “Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell” (v. 3).  The psalmist looked at the guidance of the Lord's light even in the darkness of his mind when he was downcast and disturbed due to the deceitfulness and wicked actions of his enemies.  He wanted to be led by the Lord so that he might reach the altar of God, to God, his joy and his delight (v. 4).  And he wanted to praise God who is his joy and his delight.

We are downcast and disturbed when we feel that we have been forsaken by God.  We are downcast and disturbed when God's salvation languishes in suffering and adversity.  Especially when we feel that God, our stronghold, is no longer saving us from ungodly and wicked people who oppress us we can be downcast and disturbed.  Then we should speak to our souls like the psalmist: “Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God …” (v. 5).  We must speak to our souls that are downcast and disturbed “Put your hope in God”.  We have to shout to our souls.  We should no longer be downcast and disturbed but proclaim to our own souls to put our hope in God.  In doing so, we will praise God rather than be downcast and disturbed.