Theological Commentary: Click Here
Psalm 43
continues the tone of what we began yesterday.
We can get a sense that these psalms are a matched set because they
contain the exact same phrase. “Why are you downcast, oh my soul?” Here is another psalm dealing with the dichotomy
of knowing the human existence but believing in a God who is creator and
desires relationship with us.
In the
middle of the psalm we get a clue about how to get past our misery. The psalmist asks God to send him His light
and His truth. The psalmist asks to be
led back into the presence of God. Don’t
miss the directionality of what’s being said here.
So often
when Christians talk about faith we talk about our walk, our devotional life,
and our worship life. We take a wonderful Christianity and cheapen it to the
level of every other religion. Religion
is about human beings working their way into righteousness. This psalm tells us about the difference
between religion and Christianity. God
comes to us; we don’t come to Him.
The psalmist
asks to be led to God’s presence. The
psalmist knows that we have no chance to work our way up to God. We cannot find Him on our own. He sends out His light to shine the path to
Him. He sends out His truth to be our
guide.
We still
must follow. It’s not like we have no
responsibility; but ours is a responsibility in response rather than in
initiation. God comes to us and leads us
into relationship.
That brings
me back full circle. Why is the soul
downcast? Perhaps the soul has forgotten
to look for the light and listen for the truth.
Perhaps the soul has become so focused on its own self-worth that it
forgot about the most important action: God’s initial action. When we forget God’s important act of
initiating, it is easy for our soul to become downcast.
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