When things aren’t going well, how do you react? How do you talk to yourself? We have some practical instruction in Psalms 42 and 43. Yesterday, we looked at the opening of Psalm 42:

As the deer pants for the water brooks, 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? (Psalm 42.1, 2, NKJV)

Why was his soul thirsting for God? Because he felt like he was in the desert!

My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast…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?” (Psalm 42.3, 4, 9, 10, NKJV)

The feeling of abandonment continues into Psalm 43:

Vindicate me, O God, And plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength; Why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? (Psalm 43.1, 2, NKJV)

What’s the solution? It’s right there in Psalms 42 and 43, appearing three times:

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 42.5, 11, 43.5, NKJV)

That needs no further comment.