Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Psalms 42:5 NIV
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
The folks I generally hang out with are evangelical protestants. And, for the most part, I find value in that. They are people who share a common faith with me and we have a lot in common. But sometimes I think that we are guilty of putting on a mask. A mask that tells others around us that everything is good. While we might admit to problems in our physical lives, we are more reluctant to share our spiritual struggles.
And that makes this verse kind of refreshing. The Psalmist freely admits that his soul is downcast within him. There are some issues he is working through. I suspect that is much truer in most of our lives than we are willing to admit. Could it be that we are afraid that others might think less of us.
I think the opposite would actually be true. If we were to take off our masks, we might find that there are others facing the same issues. And we might be able to work through them together.
The other thing I like about this verse is the confidence he has that, even though he is broken, he knows that God still loves him. And he will be renewed and will praise God with a pure heart.