Psalm 42
Introduction
Psalm forty-two was my morning meditation on Monday morning. The following notes represent my interaction with the Lord through this text. Shortly after my Q-time, I received a text from a counselee who had been riding on the Mindbender and just found herself in one of the 5.2g turns. Her husband of ten years, her partner working in a ministry, had just told her he had been a fake.
It has often been fascinating that the focus of my morning meditation became the “balm of Gilead” I needed for a counselee later that day. Such was the case on Monday. I sent her the content below. A few hours later, she texted me, “I loved the Psalm! Thank you.”
Meditation
For Christians, life is a roller coaster. For some, it is like the gentle, steady, and reasonably paced Litter Dipper. For others, it is like the Mindbender or American Eagle at Six Flags: violent, twisting, exhilarating, and exhausting. Think of the person born in Somalia or Sudan or into an Indian tribe in the upper Amazon. For most Americans, life ungulates between the Litter Dipper and the Mindbender. For these folks, it’s the Mindbender every day, and if not, there is the threat that it will be.
The Psalmist provides a model for handling extreme downhills and violent turns with a force of 5.2g. Here is an outline of the Psalm with some commentary.
1-4 Prayer—expressing his distress and desire to be aware of God’s presence.
5 Self-talk—directing his soul to God.
6-7 Prayer—recalling God’s work of the past.
8 Self-talk—coaching self with doctrinal knowledge.
9-10 Prayer—a lament (processing) his situation with God.
11 Self-talk—counseling self to trust God
All this can be summed up this way. Cultivate engaging your soul with God. Come to the Word like a thirsty deer seeking to assuage his thirst. As you meditate, talk with God, speak to yourself, and remember (something that God urges us to do hundreds of times) God’s works of the past as a motivator to deal with the present. Process your pain (unload it by talking about it) with God (lament). Counsel yourself to trust God to bring you through the violent turns and extreme downhills when it feels like the bottom just dropped out. Hang on to the safety bar that locks you in position. This, in essence, is living out Proverbs 3:5-6.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
Trust not your own understanding
Throughout the ride of life (in all your ways acknowledge Him)
And experience assurance (He will direct your paths).
Conclusion
There are no exceptions. Living on planet Earth is a roller coaster. The Apostle James is like the young man who snaps the safety bar in place and tells us, “Keep your hands inside the car. Don’t turn your head and lean out of the car. Scream down the hills and relax on the flats.” James gives us instructions for the ride of life when he writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you (1:1-5 NIV).
His instructions sound very much like the Psalmist. We should not be surprised since the same Holy Spirit authored both passages.
Postscript
My prayer is twofold. First, the model of Psalm 42 will be helpful for my readers in their personal lives. Second, it will be a new tool in their toolbox for counseling and ministry.