By Raheel Govender
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.
Psalm 42:1-11
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
1 Vindicate me, O God,
Psalm 43: 1-5
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
Prayer is a vital source of strength and sustenance for every believer in Christ. Therefore it’s vital to pray without ceasing.
These two Psalms repeat similar phrases, revealing a most unusual prayer strategy as the writer repeatedly stops talking to God and talks to himself. Why? Clearly, he is in very distressing situations:
People mock his relationship with God, and God seems very far away. He feels very cast down, weary, confused, and hopeless. Still, he knows his only hope is to seek God in prayer. To do so, he firstly refocuses himself on the promises of God. Secondly, he confronts the fears and contradictions deep in his soul, and thirdly, he challenges himself about every semblance of unbelief in his heart.
It is the principle behind (Romans 10: 17: So then faith comes (alive) by hearing, and hearing the Word (truth) of God). The psalmist seems to be preaching to himself, being renewed in hope as he reviews who God really is.
The resident psychologist of a major cancer clinic described the perspective that marked hope-filled cancer patients: “They don’t deny the diagnosis. But they do defy the verdict.” The psalmist takes this same approach to becoming equipped for intensive prayer that seeks God for prayer.
Question for Reflection:
How is your approach to prayer? Is it casual or radical?
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