The Wrestling Within

 

Psalm 42: 1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
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 say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    a multitude keeping festival.

Psalm 43:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,

    and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

    my salvation and my God.

Many of us are familiar with the opening line of each of the passages above.  What is interesting is that the next verse and the last verse of Psalm 42 are the same as Psalm 43:5 above. They are the refrain of the two psalms put together.  In both psalms David alternates back and forth between talking to God and about God, as he struggles with both the oppression of his enemies and the doubts of his own soul. In both psalms he also expresses his deep desire to worship with God's people and lead them in praise. They are psalms where David gets real with himself and before God with His people. Read both fully.