Psalms 42:5
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
The verse is a rebuke spoken to one's own soul, asking why it is cast down and inwardly disturbed and commanding it to hope in God. To be cast down and disquieted is to be troubled, discouraged, sorrowful and worn with anxiety, weeping under taunting, oppression and overwhelming sorrow while still thirsting for the living God. The help of His countenance is His helping presence and favor, His sympathy and sustaining help that cheers and restores, with confidence that He commands lovingkindness by day and gives His song in the night. It forbids dwelling on the dark side in unbelieving thought and talk, and calls instead for dwelling on mercy, goodness and blessings already given, holding fast to the plain word of God rather than to feeling. That hope rests in Jesus, whose complete sacrifice was offered for sinners and who pleads for them before the throne, with assurance that the Lord who has helped in the past is present now to hear, sustain and bring the troubled soul to praise Him again.
Words and Setting
The verse is a rebuke and question spoken to one's own soul, asking why it is cast down and inwardly disturbed and commanding it to hope in God. A person weighed down by sorrow can thus address the troubled soul directly, forbidding looking on the dark side and thinking or talking unbelief. The questioning looks forward to yet praising Him for His helping presence even while the soul thirsts for the living God.
Being cast down and disquieted means being troubled, discouraged and sorrowful, and being worn out with anxiety, with ambition gone and strength gone after exhausting labor. In the psalm this thirst for the living God is joined with weeping day and night while enemies taunt with Where is thy God. It includes feeling forgotten by God as rock and mourning under the oppression of the enemy. It includes feeling overwhelmed as by waves and billows going over.
The help of His countenance is God's helping presence and favor meeting the soul in its burdens and distress. It is His sympathy and sustaining help, the help and health of the countenance and its cheering light. With it comes confidence that the Lord commands lovingkindness by day and gives His song in the night with prayer to the God of life. God is the help of the psalmist's countenance, and He is the psalmist's God.
The verse expresses settled confidence that praise will return, that the troubled and discouraged soul will yet praise God for His help. Hope in God can therefore take root where there is despair, looking for recovery through the Saviour's countenance which restores strength and gives springback power to praise again. That hope is expressed as trusting God fully, believing He has heard prayer, and relying on His help and loving care.
Call to Hope in God
The rebuke to the downcast soul forbids looking on the dark side and thinking or talking unbelief, directing it instead to hope in God and to look forward to praising Him for His helping presence. By beholding people become changed, so the mind is to dwell not on gloom but on mercy, goodness, unfailing compassion and love and on blessings already bestowed, which brings good courage. Even while thirsting for the living God, weeping day and night while enemies taunt where God is, feeling forgotten and mourning under oppression, and overwhelmed as by waves and billows going over, the soul is to trust that the Lord commands lovingkindness by day and gives His song in the night with prayer to the God of life.
There is no cause for discouragement when experience is hard to understand, for God understands His people and His work, and the soul should fear not, believe and pray, wait upon Him in hope, and seek to work out His plans. The same holds when His work is hindered by empty treasuries, heavy debts, lack of means to employ workers and meet demands, and tremendous pressure that grows worse instead of better; then the call is to hope in God, cling to God, cling firmly and hold fast. When human resources are at an end the soul is still to hope in God and rejoice in Him, with assurance that help has come.
Hoping in God means holding fast faith and hope without giving up and clinging to the promises and assurances of the Lord, which gives strength to go forward. It means trusting not in feelings but in the naked word of God, taking a stand upon a plain thus saith the Lord and resting there feeling or no feeling, since faith is not always followed by feelings of ecstasy, so trust must be whole and steady in God alone. Such hope brings assurance that the Lord is present, understands, sympathizes and sustains in burdens and distress, hears prayer, and will continue to help as He has helped in the past, including the many prayers ascending to heaven for the afflicted. That confidence brings good courage, strength, joy, and reliance on His loving care and favor, with trust that the soul will yet praise Him for the help of His presence.
Hope rests in Jesus, whose complete sacrifice on Calvary was offered for sinners and who pleads for them before God's throne. Through Christ God has promised to save sinners, and His promises and blessings are available by faith now to those who surrender, who may look forward to eternal joy and take courage from that promise even when questioning whether there is hope. That hope is to be placed in God and nowhere else, since there is nowhere else to look. Losing hope and courage is very poor policy and folly, because there is plenty of work to do and God is with His people as a mighty Worker whose orders must be obeyed.
Strength for Daily Trials
The verse is a call to lift up the discouraged and to help hope spring up where there is despair. It answers inner discouragement and unrest by directing the troubled soul to hope in God with trust that praise will return because of the help given through His presence. It is encouragement for the person who doubts there is hope in his own case. It is also for the one questioning whether there is any hope, calling that person to place hope in God and take courage from the promise to save sinners through Christ.
The downcast condition will not last if given a fair chance. Being cast down and disquieted means being worn out with anxiety, with ambition gone and strength gone after exhausting labor, feeling utterly worn down and overwhelmed. Hope in God looks for recovery through the cheering light of the Saviour's countenance, which restores strength and gives springback power to praise Him again with renewed power. That same call not to be cast down serves as self-encouragement amid exhausting, confusing travel, and its hope is met with peace and rest and praise to God for comfort and care.
Hoping in God means being a humble, trusting child of faith when tempted to speak rashly. Harsh, hasty words dishonor the divine Companion and grieve the Holy Spirit, so conversation is to be heavenly and show by words that Christ abides in the soul. When temptation to speak wrongly comes, the heart is to be lifted to God in prayer, and He will help speak right words. Trust in the Saviour is the privilege of all, ministers and people, which Jesus asks of them, with confidence that the Lord will not forsake those who put their trust in Him.
The verse commands the downcast soul to wait upon God in humble dependence, confessing Him as the light of the countenance and my God. That humble dependence is surety and power, lifting a person above the most grievous, subtle temptations. With face heavenward, breathing out petitions to God and holding supreme love for Jesus Christ who bought men with His own blood, the waiting soul develops unselfish love for fellow men. It regulates every action and business transaction by the law of God, never swerving from right and justice toward fellow men under any circumstance while watching and waiting and working most diligently for the coming of the Lord.
The question why the soul is cast down is answered by turning mind and heart to Jesus. When Satan tempts a person away from Christ, Jesus' unfailing love is reason to keep following Him. Hope in God aims at a day of greater things that is attainable by aspiring after the highest Christian principles, while failure to aspire calls Christlikeness into question and true hope shows itself in a constant tendency to grow in grace and bear much fruit. The call to hope rather than remain troubled expresses trust in God amid fear and distress, as when a dying believer stops trusting in self and rests in Jesus. It likewise encourages a daughter to be of good courage, to trust God and rejoice in Him, with confidence that God will uphold and protect her from the tempter and that praise will come again for His help.