Why are You Cast Down?

“As a deer pants for flowing streams,

    so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

    for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food

    day and night,

while they say to me all the day long,

    ‘Where is your God?’

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.

“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.

“My soul is cast down within me;

    therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

    from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep

    at the roar of your waterfalls;

all your breakers and your waves

    have gone over me.

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

    and at night his song is with me,

    a prayer to the God of my life.

I 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 deadly wound in my bones,

    my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me all the day long,

    ‘Where is your God?’

“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.” (Psalms 42:1-11 ESV)

Are you able to identify with this Psalmist in any way, either from a time in your past or in your present life? I definitely can from times past, and I can connect with parts of it in my life present. For if we are those who are followers of Jesus Christ, whose desire is for him, to do his will, we are going to go through times of difficulty, persecution, and rejection. And we will have people who will speak evil of us and who will mock us and who will deride us. And if we have compassionate hearts, that should bring us to tears.

And if our hearts are not guarded, our tears may turn to depression and to withdrawal and to us pulling away from doing the will of the Lord. And perhaps they may even lead us to questioning God and his sovereignty over our lives. And we may cry out to God and say, “Why, God, is this happening to me?” And that says that we have not yet reached that place of spiritual maturity in our lives to where we understand and accept the sovereignty of God over our lives, and when we can accept suffering as something good.

And that may lead many sincere followers of Christ to pull back and to no longer do what they were doing in ministry in obedience to the Lord, out of fear of rejection and persecution, or out of being convinced that all the doors that were open for them are now closed. So they get discouraged and downcast and they give up hope, at least temporarily, until they are able to work through their emotions in prayer to the Lord, and in counseling themselves, so that they will return to serving the Lord as they once had.

And if we ever get to that point in our Christian lives, and in Christian ministry, to where we are discouraged and disheartened, and our emotions are telling us to give up and to run away, we need to give ourselves biblical counsel. And we need to work through those emotions in prayer. And we must get into the Scriptures and study them in their context and let the Holy Spirit speak truth to our hearts, whether or not our emotions are yet there. For Satan is definitely hot on our trail to convince us to give up and run.

And we must remind ourselves of days gone by when we were following the Lord as we ought, and how the Lord carried us through every difficult circumstance, and how he supplied for our every need. And we should drag out the old hymns of the faith and sing them out loud. And if we journal, we should go back and read where the Lord has encouraged us before in our trials and tribulations. And we must reassure ourselves of our Lord’s provisions for us and how he will not leave us or forsake us.

For Satan will glory in these times in our lives when he can get us to be so downcast that we will desert God’s callings upon our lives, and when we will run from serving the Lord rather than to serving God with our lives. So, if your emotions are beginning to go that direction, stop! Pray! Read the Scriptures! Sing songs, hymns and spiritual songs out loud! Claim the promises of God that he has for his followers. Believe Him! Trust Him! And keep moving forward in the strength and wisdom and power of God!!

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

A Believer’s Prayer 

An Original Work / July 31, 2012

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray 

To be Yours, and Yours always.

Lead me in Your truth today.

May I love You, and obey.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

When I sin, may I confess;

Bow before You when I pray;

Live for You and You always.

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.

Life with You will never end.

You are with me through each day,

Giving love and peace always.

You will ne’er abandon me.

From my sin You set me free.

You died on that cruel tree,

So I’d live eternally.

Soon You’re coming back for me;

From this world to set me free;

Live with You eternally.

Oh, what joy that brings to me.

I will walk with You in white;

A pure bride, I’ve been made right

By the blood of Jesus Christ;

Pardoned by His sacrifice.

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