Psalm 42

"Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him. For the help of His presence." Psalm 42:5

    It is unclear to me when David wrote Psalm 42, if it was David that wrote it.  The psalmist mentioned panting after God and feeling despair.  He mentions the Jordan, the area east of Jersualem and the promise land.  But, the thing of it is is that there were a lot of times in David's life when he felt despair.  There was a lot of time when he was in exile from others.  Sometimes on the run for his life.  But, David is talking more than about a physical despair here, but a spiritual one.

  Two times in Psalm 42:5-6 the word despair is used.  It is the transliterated word "Shachach" which means to "bow down, humbled, to be cast down".  The word "despair" is also used to describe his condition and that word is the word "Hamah" which means to mourn, to roar, to be in a stir.  The psalmist was in a state of turmoil and despair.  He was in a place where he felt spiritually dry.  So, it is almost as if he is talking to himself in this psalm.  He looks at his situation and then says to himself and also to us, "Hope in God".  Then, in verse 6 it tells us "Therefore I remember from the land of the Jordan".  It could mean he means a literal Jordan, but more than that it is a place of exile, a spiritual wilderness, a dry and weak place.  It is from this place he tells himself to remember, to look back on much like looking back from a mountain.

     When you look back from the tops of the mountain, you see the twists and turns and peaks and valleys that you came through.  You can see a long ways off.  You can look back and remember what you went through.  That is part of what I think he means here.  Sometimes we should look back and remember what we have already been through.  To look back and remember the valleys, the heartaches, the injury and the insult, so that we can remember that God saw us through it.  This is what Joseph did in Genesis 50:20 when he said to his brothers "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive."  In retrospect often times, it is much easier to see God's hand at work than in the present.

Zechariah's Visions

  The little prophetic book of Zechariah has some fantastic visions in it.  We lose a lot of the meaning in the present day because so much of it is symbolic.  Zechariah lived during a time of economic and political upheaval for the promise land.  The Jewish people were coming back from captivity from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and their country.  Much like Iraq has been the last couple of years, the nation was vulnerable to attack and corruption.

  Zechariah has a vision in the night in Zechariah one and he says, "During the night I had a vision-ahd there before me was a man riding a red horse! He ws standing amongh the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown, and white horses." Zech 1:8  I believe this is significant that the rider was down in a ravine.  It represents the low place that Israel finds itself in this period.  The rider is Jesus Himself, a preincarnate vision of the Son of God.  The fact that he is down in the ravine suggests that God is there with them, fighting their baIttles for them and with them.  The angel who speaks with Zechariah will clarify this in verse 14-17 of this chapter.

  This is meaningful to me because it tells me that though I may go through valleys of my own as a believer, God has not forsaken me.  God is willing to get down in that ravine with me and help me to fight my battles.  The important thing for me to remember is to stay faithful to him.  God tells them this in verse 3 when he tells them "Return to me, declares the Lord Almighty, and I will return to you."  Our trouble really begin and ends when we try to do things our own way, in our own timing, without relying on the Lord.

  I get frustrated because I cannot see the big picture of what God wants or what direction that he is leading me.  He sees it and even in the delays and problems can bear fruit if I allow him to.  I must not try to put my hands back on the steering wheel of my life and force the issue.  I must allow his perfect timing to have its result.  Because it is often in the waiting that he is growing in me the faith, the perseverance, the maturity that I will need to accomplish his will.  It needs to be enough to know that God has not abandoned me and is there with me.

Want another encouraging word? Try Beth Moore's a Quick Word at
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/a-quick-word-with-beth-moore/