New believers eventually come to realize there is an ebb and flow in our walk with God; there are highs and there are lows, mountaintops and valleys, sunshine, and gloom. Those of us who have been believers for any length of time have come to know the reality of what Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount: “For He [God] gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (Matthew 5:45).
This side of heaven, Christians suffer the same losses unbelievers suffer: We lose loved ones unexpectedly; we battle then lose to disease; our marriages become distressed — and sometimes dissolve; we lose our job, our home; sometimes our closest friends betray us; etc., etc.
With this glaring reality, I think we do Christianity an incalculable disfavor when we peddle the false gospel of “Believe in Jesus and your troubles will be over!” There is no round-the-clock “cloud nine” walk with God.
This is one of many reasons why I love the Bible: it never sugarcoats the walk with God! Psalm 42 is a great example of what I mean. Here, the psalmist captures well this reality and the corresponding mood of gloom that comes over us when life goes south.
For brevity’s sake, let’s focus on verses 5-6, where we read: “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. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you…”
For another take on this passage, notice with me how the Amplified Bible translates this: “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence. O my God, my soul is in despair within me [the burden more than I can bear]; Therefore I will [fervently] remember You…”
There is actually a dialogue going on here — between the author and himself! No, he’s not schizophrenic; he’s simply employing what psychologists call “self-talk.” This is a kind of mental therapy whereby we simply tell ourself the truth, believe it, and the result is finding our way out of crippling emotions such as depression, anxiety, fear, etc. BTW: The ins and outs of how this works are wonderfully presented in the classic book Telling Yourself The Truth by William Backus and Marie Chapian!
Notice that the psalmist never denies how he is feeling! What he does do is remind himself to 1) Put his hope in God and 2) Remember that the day will come when his struggle will be over. Rick Warren puts it like this: Every trial has a beginning, middle, and an end; trials don’t come to stay — they come to pass.
At a most distressing, terrifying point in his life, David reminds himself that: “… You are my God. My times are in Your hands” (Psalm 31:14).
Sure enough, God came through, for later in the psalm David writes: “Praise the LORD, for he has shown me the wonders of his unfailing love. He kept me safe when my city was under attack. In panic I cried out, `I am cut off from the LORD!’ But you heard my cry for mercy and answered my call for help” (vv. 21-22, NLT).
He will likewise prove Himself faithful to all who steadfastly maintain their trust in Him.