Some Lessons from Pss. 42-43

I subscribe to the virtually unanimous view that our present day Psalms 42-43 were originally one psalm with the Ps. 42 superscription applying to both. While many analyses have been done on this combined psalm (including one that I did earlier this year), I'd like to limit the scope of this post to a couple of practical application items.

Psalm 42-43 offers a breathtaking movement from doubt and despair to hope and cautious confidence. The first 7 verses offer unrelenting despair and the crushing absence of God. It is not until v8 that there seems to be a genuine turning around of the emotions of the psalmist. A significant change has occurred here and continues into Ps. 43. What is the change?

In my view, what has changed is that the author has gone from soliloquy to dialogue. It is very significant that the first 7 verses offer us a picture of a despairing man who is mainly talking to himself. He is not really talking with God. He is lamenting God's absence and possibly God's judgment, but he is not really voicing his laments to God. Instead, he is wallowing in self-agony. It isn't until v8 that we get a definitive break in this pattern, and the psalmist begins addressing God directly rather than keeping his sorrow to himself. This new pattern escalates in Ps. 43, so we should not be surprised that the end of Ps. 43 sounds almost triumphant, in contrast to the crushing despair of the first half of Ps. 42.

This is critical for us today. Like the psalmist, we often internally contain our concerns, questions, and torments, and choose to enter into ongoing soliloquies with ourselves rather than reaching out to God. This psalm seems to suggest that doing too much of this only increases our level of frustration, bewilderment, and hopelessness. Inner reflection can be a good thing and is something that too many are afraid to enter into at all. But there seems to be a point where such reflection crosses the line into something damaging if it is not released to God. While the questions the author asks to himself, and then eventually to God, are questions many of us have voiced from time to time, the psalm’s stress is not on answering the questions. Instead, the psalm intends to teach that the first step to being satisfied and renewed is not with quick answers to difficult questions, but in faithfully dialoguing with God and trusting him. This requires a long view of suffering that is greatly frowned upon in Western society, but is an approach that is almost always more substantive and transformative than quick fixes. The uncomfortable teaching of this psalm is that while we may want answers on demand, we are unlikely to get such answers quickly. Further, our ability to ever obtain the answers we seek is severely stunted if we choose to remain in soliloquy with ourselves indefinitely rather than communicating to God. The entire tone of the combined psalm changes when the psalmist starts releasing his emotions to God, rather than warring with them all by himself. This is cogent wisdom for us today, especially when we feel overwhelmed with anger or frustration.

Another major implication of this psalm concerns doubt. Many Christians are often taught that it is a sin to be angry with God, or to doubt him. This psalm seems to take issue with that teaching. Rev. 15:3-4 (not to mention Job) is clear that it is out of bounds to question the justice of God, but this is different from experiencing times of doubt and even anger that often results from a lack of understanding why we suffer the way we do. The psalmist is not condemned for feeling what he feels and wondering aloud why God has seemingly abandoned him. This psalm seems to give both comfort and discomfort to those who struggle with doubt and despair. While it is okay to feel these things, it is not okay to wallow in these feelings indefinitely and to shield oneself from God. Legitimate feelings of despair can easily lead to illegitimate feelings of bitterness and defeatism if such feelings are allowed to fester and build through uninterrupted soliloquy rather than released in dialogue with God. One of the great difficulties of the Christian life is to trust God even when we doubt that he is trustworthy. This eventually becomes the outlook of the psalmist, and it is the key to his confidence that he will be delivered from despair. So it will be with us if we take heed of his words.