“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.”
Psalm 42:5
Repetition is woven throughout the Psalms.
One of the most apparent is Psalm 136. “His love endures forever” is the powerful refrain echoed at the end of each verse. In Psalm 42, a similar repetition happens twice. Once in the verse quoted above and once at the very end of the psalm.
Having a downcast and disturbed soul might not be too difficult for you to imagine, dear Christian. Whether it be some trouble or difficulty happening in your life—or a loved one’s—or just the general state of the world we live in, many things happen in life, filling us with overwhelming sorrow and exhausting unrest.
The Sons of Korah, who wrote this psalm, don’t shy away from admitting their sorrow and unrest. They express it! The same is true for you and me. We have joy that cannot be diminished by the world’s sorrows, but that’s not to say we don’t get overwhelmed or exhausted by life’s circumstances. We experience many sorrows and much distress in our short time here on earth. When we do, God invites us to cry out to him.
But the psalmists’ words at the end of this powerful verse remind us that God doesn’t want us to stay in that sorrow and distress. He wants us to look past those things. He provides comfort, relief, and peace—all of which are lasting and true. Those amazing, undeserved blessings are seen in our Savior: Jesus.
We look to Jesus and put our hope in him—in his words and promises that cannot be broken. Even in the midst of overwhelming sorrow and exhausting unrest, our Savior is right there with us. He’s forgiven our sins. He’s brought us into God’s family. He’s promised us a home in heaven with him forever.
We can praise him—even if that praise is whispered with tears streaming down our faces. We can praise him—even if everything around us is falling to pieces. We can praise him because he is our Savior and our God, and he has done all things for us.
We can most certainly ask ourselves, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” But when we do, we can also remember the hope-filled answer that uplifts and calms our downcast and disturbed souls.
Our God is with us and he is for us. We can praise him with our whole lives. He is our Savior and our God.
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Prayers for People Under Pressure contains 97 prayers written for times of difficulty and distress. It is through God’s Word and prayers such as these that you will draw close to your Savior and God and receive the strength to persevere through all adversity.
Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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