Third Wednesday in Lent

Psalms 42 and 43

Tonight’s Scripture, Psalms 42 and 43 are psalms, or songs, of lament where the poet addresses God. Scholars now believe that these two psalms, which are separate in our canon, were originally one whole piece with three stanzas.

The Psalmist begins by comparing our longing for God to an insatiable desire or unquenchable thirst. (v. 1) “Just as water is necessary for life, so also is the divine presence.”[i] Or as Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions, “our hearts are restless until they find rest in God.”  Father Richard Rohr describes this same longing as “an inner compass” or “a homing device” drawing us toward God.

Our Lenten study of “covenant” has taught us that God’s utmost desire is to live in covenant relationship with us, to be located at the center of our lives and relationships. Contemplating this yearning, Rohr asks the question,

“Wouldn’t it make sense that God would plant in us a desire for what God has already wants for us?”

When Jesus repeats the she-ma in Mark 12 and instructs his followers to “love the Lord with all your soul…..” he knows that loving someone is easy in good times. But he also knows how important it is that we know God is our loving companion in the hard times, too. As Old Testament professor Rolf Jacobson writes,

“This psalm is a song for those moments when one doesn’t feel like singing. A poem of faith for those cold nights when one doesn’t feel the flames of faith flickering in one’s soul.”[ii]

We hear the refrain repeated at 42:5, 11 and again at 43:5:

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.

The psalmist’s lament reminds us that even when our souls are cast down and disquieted, or as Eugene Peterson writes, “down in the dumps and crying the blues,” the Lord still reigns and is our help. The refrain instructs us, “Hope in God,” reminding us that our hope and help come from outside our own resources.

Throughout scripture, we see that faith is not solitary; it is best practiced in relationship and in community. And with the psalmists’ words, we are reminded again of God’s concern for the neighbor and the ways God has ordered our lives with the commandments that we would live well together.

As the church we are called to walk together through the muck and messiness of our lives and through the hurt and heartache we inflict on each other. The promise of our despair, that we hear from the psalmist, is a promise of hope, a promise that there will be restoration.[iii]

Nan Merrill offers another interpretation of the psalmist’s refrain, recording it as, “O my soul, open the door to Love!”

Sometimes our help and our hope comes disguised as “love with skin on it.” Another of my professors at Luther tells the story of his seminary colleague whose wife died unexpectedly; when the widower finally spoke about his grief, he said, “I can’t believe in God now.” His colleagues told his friend, “We will believe until you can.”

Our hope in God is sustained in relationship with God and with each other. We are called to love the Lord our God with all our soul, with confidence that God sees our tears and hears our cries. Then as the late nineteenth century hymn writer Horatio Spafford wrote, after suffering great personal loss, we too can say, “When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, [God has] taught me to say, “It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

Let us pray.[iv]
O Lord our God,
Show us your everlasting love that we may serve you from the obedience of our hearts.
Lead us in the way of your peace, that our souls may be restored.
Guide us in the way of the cross, that we might proclaim the strength of your love.
We pray in the name of Your Son Jesus,
Amen.

[i] W. H. Bellinger, Jr. Working Preacher Commentary on Psalm 43.
[ii] Rolf Jacobson. Working Preacher Commentary on Psalm 43.
[iii] Andy Root. The Promise of Despair.
[iv] Adapted from Sundays and Seasons Midweek Lenten Series: You Shall Love the Lord Your God.