WHY HAVE YOU REJECTED ME?

Psalms 43:2-5  You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?  (3)  Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.  (4)  Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.  (5)  Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

There are many times when our emotion gets the best of us, hits us hard, and makes us feel depressed, downcast.  Most of the time, if not all the time, we try to hide it from other Christians.

That’s why it’s nice to know that a psalmist could write a song and be open about his feelings concerning the Lord.

Can you imagine yourself echoing the words of this psalm?

“You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”

Some of us, I think, can identify with this.  We may not have told anyone, because it is “taboo” for a Christian to say that he/she has questioned God.  But there are some of us who, at one time or another, because of a wave of emotion, in a certain circumstance, have asked God “why have you rejected me”.

There are many circumstances that lead even the strongest and most mature Christian to, even for a moment, question God’s faithfulness.  We can be in the midst of a painful trial, a financial crisis, a broken relationship, failure in work or business, and even failure in ministry. It can even be physiological, something about hormones or old age.

It’s nice to know that the Bible records believers who have been affected by these things, and so can we.

But it’s important to note that the psalmist in Psalm 43 was not raising his hand out of anger or bitterness.  He was just expressing what his emotion was leading him to feel.  Notice that it did not change what he believed about his God:

“YOU ARE GOD MY STRONGHOLD”.  He still knew who his God was.  His emotion was just having its way.

It was this understanding of who his God was, his Stronghold, that lead him out of his emotion, and back to a trust mode:

3)  Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.

In the midst of a dark moment, that momentarily affected his emotions, he runs back to his stronghold and prays – SEND FORTH YOUR LIGHT AND TRUTH, LET THEM GUIDE ME.

For in the midst of a down moment, how important is it that God’s light and truth lead us back to where we should be – TO THE PLACE WHERE YOU DWELL.

Notice that the psalmist was not praying that he get out of the situation, or that God changes his circumstance.  He prayed that he go back to the protection of his Stronghold – to the place where his God dwelt.

And he will go back to a place that will overcome the emotion that overwhelms him, and lead him back to praise:

(4)  Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. 

Our joy and delight is in God our stronghold, in His presence.  And it is there where our praise returns, and overcomes our emotion.

It is not the change of circumstance that brings back the joy and delight.  It is our being once again in the presence of the Lord that brings back the praise.  

(5)  Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

And so it ends with the psalmist “speaking” to his own soul – WHY ARE YOU DOWNCAST…WHY SO DISTURBED WITHIN ME.

It is only when the Lord’s light and truth leads us back to the presence of our stronghold, and back to worship, that we can speak this to our soul, and finally conclude – PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD, FOR I WILL YET PRAISE HIM.

Then, true hope returns.  We may be in the same circumstance, but God’s light and truth brings us back to His presence, and back to the altar where we can once again know the joy and delight that He brings.  It is here that we praise, and where hope once again keeps us going.