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 42:5
I’ve found this verse to be a great encouragement during times when I’ve felt depressed or discouraged. “I will yet praise him” reminds me that though I might currently be going through a difficult time, there’ll come a time when I will be again praising the Lord. I imagine myself in church, singing with passion and as I picture this I find strength for the day. It gives me hope that hard times won’t last. Rather than focusing on present troubles, I can look forward to better times.
David knew from past experiences that God would come through for him. So he asks himself why he is upset. He knows God is faithful so he has a talk to himself to get his mind and thoughts back on a positive track.
It helps us to do the same. We can question ourselves as to why we are disheartened. What exactly is it about our present circumstances that is causing us to feel down? What is it we’re believing about the situation that is discouraging us? Sometimes we may find God reveals to us that we have made assumptions or we’re believing things which aren’t true. Often our dejection comes from a feeling of hopelessness that things will never change. Although things have always been a certain way in the past this doesn’t mean that they’ll be that way in the future.
David exhorts himself to, “Put your hope in God”. With God, different outcomes are possible. Even if God doesn’t change our circumstances, he can enable us to cope with whatever comes.
