On Psalm 43

Summer Psalms - On Psalm 43

August 16, 2022

Pray for Illumination - Heavenly Father, help me to know your ways; teach me your paths and lead me into your truth. Amen.

Read Psalm 43

Send me your light and your faithful care,
    let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
    to the place where you dwell.   Psalm 43:3

Day One of Kid’s Camp was wonderful! I got to see familiar faces from last year and meet plenty of new kids.  It was busy and crazy at times. Even the bugs seemed to come out early for the excitement! That was yesterday.  
As I wake up this morning, I am looking out my window at a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains which are against the backdrop of a rising sun.  Nothing seems to be moving.  Stillness.  Beauty.  Peace.  These are some of the things I think of as I consider the beauty of God’s creation.  I know in a short while the kids will be awake and it will get crazy busy again, but for now I need this stillness to know and hear from God.

In a world that seems so busy and noisy, even when we are alone, it’s no wonder that people have trouble finding time to hear God’s voice.  Everything seems to change all the time including those things that we may have thought to be places of stability and certainty.  

Our Psalmist finds himself longing to return to “the altar” - a place where he had the opportunity to get away from all of the noise and heaviness of life.  A place where he could see and know God.  And yet because he has lost that opportunity in his life, it seems as if even God has abandoned him.  And yet our Psalmist remembers so well who God has been in his life, he is able to preach to himself words of faith and trust:

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.  Psalm 43:5

I wonder how many people we run into each day who feel overwhelmed by life’s circumstances and are caught in fog, unable to see and know God’s presence.  Is it possible that on any given encounter, we may be the best opportunity for someone to experience the peace and love of God in their lives?  

Today, let’s pray that God would fill us with is presence.  Ask God to help you share the love of Jesus with someone today.  You may just be the light and faithful care that someone needs.