Psalm 42:4-8
New Living Translation
My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a great celebration!
Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.
I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
Buteach day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.
One of the most common emotional illnesses is depression. It is also psychological, for it can prey on your mind as well as wreak havoc with your emotions. The Sons of Korah were apparently some distant from Jerusalem and all that was familiar to them. We all become overwhelmed at times when it seems our burden is too great for us to bear. The Sons of Korah are wrestling mightily with feelings of discouragement and being disheartened. Intertwined in their outpouring of grief, they openly acknowledge whom they place their hope in. These are men of God who are experiencing real emotions of pain and depression. Singing Psalms to the Lord is one way to disperse the negative feelings you are feeling. At times it is difficult to find what it takes to pull yourself up, so that is when you call on a faithful brother or sister to stand in the gap between your pain and God to praise him in your stead and become a vital liaison or link to the Lord.
The Sons of Korah remember all the Lord has done for them in the past and in these recollections they find their spirits lifted. Love is a powerful force that can be called upon to turn things 180 degrees from where you now stand. God’s love is the most powerful because it is unconditional and never-ending.
Nothing any of us can think, say or do can shatter the bonds of love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. The Sons of Korah, who knew scripture intimately, knew all too well how deep God’s love ran for them.
So what we see in these several verses is the self-assessment the writer chooses to shine a light on and also how he reasons things out by measuring his emotional circumstances against what he already knew of their God. This should be seen as a template for your use for when you become discouraged and downhearted and question why you are feeling that way, let it bring you to the place where God rises up in your heart all over again to lift your countenance and enable you to move forward from the place you find yourself. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
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