“To God my exceeding joy”
[Psalms 43]
According to Pastor Charles Swindoll, three of the most serious factors that deprive joy today are: first, anxiety, second, stress, and third, fear. They all look alike, but there are distinct differences. First, anxiety is outrageous worry about what might happen. While waiting for the incident to end, anxiety is to erode joy like acid that slowly revealing its effect. Second, stress is more serious than anxiety. Stress is being very nervous about something that is outside of our control, a situation that we cannot change or control. Instead of entrusting the problem to God, our hearts are being stirred up. Stress intensifies in the constant stir up of heart. Third and last, fear is more serious than anxiety or stress. It's a terrible sense of instability in the face of danger, misery or pain. Like anxiety or stress, fear exaggerates something more than it is. What we can do to be free from these things that deprive our joy is faith (Swindoll).
How about us? Are we overcoming these three elements of anxiety, stress and fear that take away our joy by faith? We must overcome by believing in the word of God. Especially, let us all hold onto Zephaniah 3:17 – “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” We must overcome things such as anxiety, stress, and fear by believing that Heavenly Father is taking great delight in us. As we look to God who rejoices over us with singing, we must put off all things such as anxiety, stress, and fear within us, and put on the clothes of joy (the fruit of the Holy Spirit) that God gives us.
In Psalms 43:4, the psalmist confesses to God as “God my exceeding joy.” Here, “God my exceeding joy” can be literally translated as ‘the God of joy with whom I am rejoicing’. Why did the psalmist make God his exceeding joy? In Psalms 43, I like to find out the reasons for that. As we do so, I pray that we also can make God our exceeding joy.
The first reason why the psalmist made God his exceeding joy is because the Lord was his Savior.
Look at Psalms 43:1 – “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!” In Acts 12:1-19, we can see the story of the salvation the Lord brought to Apostle Peter out of prison. No matter how much King Herod had kept Peter in the prison with all the chains, soldiers, and iron gates, they were useless in front of the Lord's saving power. The Lord freed Peter from “the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting” (Acts 12:11). The listened and answered the prayers of the church and saved Peter. Of course, even though the church's earnest and continuous prayers weren’t complete prayer and in expectation of faith, the Lord fulfilled His sovereign will, that is Peter's salvation. So, what do we have to offer after experiencing God's saving grace? Can we really show the merits of prayer before God? Since it is God's sovereign work of salvation, do we have any merits? Therefore, we who have experienced God’s salvation are confessing the chorus of hymn “My Soul in Sad Exile”: “I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest, I'll sail the wide seas no more; The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep; In Jesus I'm safe evermore.” Indeed, there are many troubled things, hard work, and sinful things in this world, but in our lives, it is not easy for us to enjoy true peace and there are often no days off. Furthermore, while living in this world where there is full of death, we can rest in peace because of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, we can rejoice and be glad because the God of salvation.
In Psalms 43, the psalmist is bringing charge to God in prayer. Who is he bringing charge against? Look at verse 1: “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!” First, it is “an ungodly nation” (v. 1). The meaning of this word is ‘a ruthless country,’ and it seems to refer to Saul and his regime who persecuted David when they were moved by Gentile unbelief (Park, Calvin). Second, it is “unjust man” (v. 1). The psalmist brought charge against those inevitably wicked people who were deceitful unjust to the just God. And he asked God to deliver him from these wicked people.
The reason why we rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ is because He is our Savior. He saved those who were ungodly like us and those who were deceitful and unrighteous by His death and resurrection. Therefore, we have this joy of salvation. This Lord of salvation is the God who gives us the grace of deliverance (salvation) by answering our prayers even in unexpected and difficult adversities in our lives. Therefore, we have the constant joy of salvation. The God who delivers us is delivering us today and will deliver us tomorrow and will show His righteousness by delivering us from this wicked world. Therefore, we can rejoice in the God of our salvation.
The second reason why the psalmist made God his exceeding joy is because the Lord was his strength.
Look at Psalms 43:2 – “For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” When the psalmist was mourning in suffering by the oppression and persecution of ungodly and unbelieving wicked people, he prayed to God and confessed his honest feelings about why it seemed like God left him. In the phrases “why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning ..?” we can feel at least little bit about the psalmist’s earnestness. It is probably natural to ask the question “why”, “why” in extreme pain. I am sure we can ask the question ‘Why?’ when we feel that God has forsaken us in our suffering and mourning by the oppression of our enemy. In Psalms 43, the psalmist's “why” prayer is from the belief that we have already received God's answer rather than from our complaint (Park). How can we know this? We can know this by looking at the word “strength” (v. 2). This word in Hebrew is “me’od” actually means “refuge” (Park). As the psalmist relied on the Lord who was his refuge and prayed, “… why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” (v. 2) Although he mourned because of the pain to the extent that he felt that he had been forsaken by God, he knew that God was his refuge, and he gained the strength when he took refuge in Him.
Like the psalmist, we sometimes ask the question “why” when we pray to God. In particular, when we are in pain due to adversity, and when we cannot bear the pain any longer, there are times when we take refuge in the Lord and offer to Him “Why?” prayers. The psalmist was in despair and distrubed within him when he was suffering from the deceitful and unjust man (v. 5). At that time, because he put his hope in God, he was raised again with the strength that God gave him. Here I recall the words of Psalm 18:1 – “"I love You, O LORD, my strength.” In the journey of faith where we realize our utter helplessness due to our lack of strength, we become a believer who once again flies in the sky like an eagle by relying on the Lord who is our rock, our fortress, our deliverer and the rock whom we take refuge. Therefore, the psalmist rejoiced in the Lord exceedingly.
Third and last reason why the psalmist made God his exceeding joy is because the Lord was his guide.
Look at Psalms 43:3 – “O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places.” When the psalmist was in despair and disturbed within him due to the deceitful and unrighteous actions of his enemies, he looked at the guidance of the Lord's light even in the darkness of his heart. Is this possible? When we are passing through a tunnel of pain, there is a time when we give up in despair and anxiety because the end of darkness seems unending. The scary thing is that as we get used to the darkness, we lose the ability to see the light. Without God’s grace, even the power (or faith) to see light in the darkness is lost. God must give us grace, so that we can see the Lord, the Light, who is shining in the darkness and that we can get out of the darkness under His guidance. Here what does it mean to be led by the Lord’s truth? This truth refers to the faithfulness of fulfilling the promise that God promised to protect us the saints without failing (Park). The psalmist longed for the guidance of the Lord, the Light, in the dark tunnel of pain and suffering. He especially relied on the Lord’s faithfulness as he longed for His guidance. He prayed to the Lord, who is the Light and the Truth, to lead him to the Lord's holy hill and His dwelling place (v. 3). Therefore, he wanted to dwell in the Lord’s presence. This reminds me Jonah 2:4 – “So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.” Prophet Jonah was inside the great fish (v. 1), in “the deep”, in “the very heart of the seas” (v. 3) because he disobeyed the God's command. But he looked again toward God’s holy temple (v. 4) and eventually was saved by the Lord (v. 9). Therefore, he confessed “Salvation comes from the LORD” (v. 9). The Lord of salvation is leading us to the heavenly place, the true Promised Land by giving us new strength as our refuge.
We aren’t in despair and disturbed within us because our God is our exceeding joy and because we rejoice and be glad in Him. Rather, we long for Him. Then we have hope. This is the hope of salvation. Therefore, we must rejoice because of our God who is our salvation, our strength, and our guide.
Rejoicing in my God who is my exceeding joy,
James Kim
(Looking and hoping in the Lord who is my Savior, my strength and my guide)