“I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 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.” – Psalm 42:9-11
We’ve been blessed over the last two Lord’s Days to receive much clarity and comfort in the Scriptures, specifically from the instruction and wisdom our Lord provides through the psalmist as He points you to Christ in Psalm 42. It’s a beautiful psalm that really speaks to your soul. It’s a wonderful psalm through which Jesus ministers to your longing and thirsty soul with wisdom, the salve of the Gospel, and His presence in your times of misery and trouble.
I want to take a brief, deeper dive in this devotion today and flesh out more of the great truth that the way to forget your misery is to remember the God of your mercies. For remembering and knowing Christ and His work for, in, and through you by His Spirit is part of His marvelous ministry to you in the midst of your misery and the enemy all around. Remembering and knowing Jesus to be your God, your Savior, your great and sympathetic High Priest (Hebrews 4:15) in the details of your struggle is off great benefit as He lifts up your head. He is your hope and the help of your face, or. lit. the salvation of your face, with His grace.
As the waves and billows roll in your life, as they come crashing over you time and again pushing you down, as your enemies’ piercing question in the midst of the pain of, “Where is your God?”, at times becomes more and more of a challenge to answer in faith as your soul is depressed and disquieted by your experience in the moment- it’s then that knowing your God, and continuing to stand on Christ are all the more important. Why? Because the living God, your Lord Jesus Christ, is your Rock. (1 Corinthians 10:4)
Like the psalmist, it’s essential that you remember Him as your refuge, especially in times when you feel you have no refuge. Like the psalmist, it’s essential that you go to Christ, your Rock, respectfully with your hard questions. As you ask many of them that involve, “Why?…Why do I have to suffer like this? Why have you forgotten me? Why do you allow me to continue mourning my enemies and not be delivered from them quickly?”, again like the psalmist, the salve of the clarity of hope being rightly placed in God is applied to your soul. For your hope in Christ is sound and strengthened as you know and praise Him more in the coming return of the help of His gracious face to you (v. 5), coupled with you knowing Him to be your God and the praise you will offer with thanksgiving as He promises to minister to the dark night of your soul and restores gladness to your heart and joy to your face. (v. 11)
Indeed, though Jesus is so great, though He is so far above you, His love and kindness towards you is also great. This is seen wonderfully in His call to you to cast your burdens upon Him, to lean on Him. His sympathy is seen in His tender concern for you. Christ is concerned for you when you’re hungry, as well as when you’re in trouble. He is concerned for you when you’re tempted and provides a way of escape. Jesus’ sympathy also means that He can relieve your suffering. He can provide for your daily needs. He can deliver you when you’re in trouble. He can help you flee from sin. His sympathy also means that He can experience what you feel emotionally, insofar as your emotions are not sinful. He rejoices with you when you rejoice for that which is good and godly. Likewise, He mourns with you when you mourn over the loss of that which is good and godly. He knows what’s like to have spiritual and physical thirst. (John 19:28-30) Jesus knows what it’s like to thirst for the departed presence of God. (Matthew 37:46) As you pour your soul out in sorrow to Christ, He also knows what it is to pour His soul out, for Jesus is the Man of Sorrows who did so unto to death for you. (Isaiah 53:10-12)
Considering God’s call in Psalm 55:22, 19th Century English pastor, Octavius Winslow wrote about Jesus’ sympathy towards you and His call for you to lean on Him, saying, “It is by an act of simple, prayerful faith we transfer our cares and anxieties, our sorrows and needs, to the Lord. Jesus invites you come and lean upon Him, and to lean with all your might upon that arm that balances the universe, and upon that bosom that bled for you upon the soldier’s spear! But you doubtingly ask, “Is the Lord able to do this thing for me?” And thus, while you are debating a matter about which there is not the shadow of a shade of doubt, the burden is crushing your gentle spirit to the dust. And all the while Jesus stands at your side and lovingly says, “Cast your burden upon Me and I will sustain you. I am God Almighty. I bore the load of your sin and condemnation up the steep of Calvary, and the same power of omnipotence, and the same strength of love that bore it all for you then, is prepared to bear your need and sorrow now. Roll it all upon Me!” (Christ’s Sympathy to Weary Pilgrims, 2)
Beloved, in light of the world’s piercing questions, accusations, and the persecution you endure from their hands and mouths, as well as your struggles within, it’s good and necessary for you to cry out to your Rock and then return and call your soul to hope in God when you’re depressed and discouraged. Roll your sorrow upon Him. May your growth in the knowledge and grace of Christ dispel your doubts and further establish your hope as you lean on Him. May your growth in your relationship with Him build your faith and awe as you see more of His kindness, greatness, and true sympathy for you. May Jesus being the help of your countenance and your God deepen your praise, and provide meaningful ministry to you in your times of misery. Soli Deo Gloria!
Works Cited:
Octavius Winslow, Christ’s Sympathy to Weary Pilgrims (2008, Chapel Library, Pensacola, Florida), 2.