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Another Disorienting "D" Word

In my last post, I wrote about despair.  But I also pointed out an antidote so you wouldn’t be left without any possible way out of that dire place.  If you need a refresher, take a look at my previous post.

In this post, I want to take a look at some other disorienting feelings that a Psalmist honestly wrote about.  He wrote this:  “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” (Ps 42:5)

In regard to feeling “cast down”, other versions translate the phrase using these words:

 

  • Despair
  • Dejected
  • Depressed
  • Discouraged

Not exactly what you and I might want to experience!  But I’m guessing that many of us have faced some of those in the past.  And I’m also guessing that some of us are facing some now. 

In regard to feeling “disquieted”, other versions use words such as:

 

  • Restless
  • Disturbed
  • Turmoil
  • Troubled

Again, not exactly what you and I would want to experience!  But just in case any of these words align with what you might be experiencing now, it would be good to see if the Psalmist gives any indicators on how to work our way out of them.

And yet, while not wanting to dissuade us from looking for such indicators, the passage might actually have more to do with asking ourselves a deep, soul searching question than for looking for a laundry list of possible remedies when we feel cast down and disquieted. 

So, the deep, soul searching question is this:  “Why are you cast down, O my soul”?   The Psalmist, in a way, is demanding that his soul explain the reasons why it should be cast down.

Note that he didn’t just say my soul is cast down and that’s just the way it is and I’ll just have to live with it. Nor does he ignore that there were some valid reasons for feeling cast down and disquieted.  He recounts that he had been experiencing things like being a distance from home and from the house of God. Unbelievers were taunting him, memories of better days were haunting him, overwhelming trials were upon him and, in the midst of all of those things, it seemed that God was slow to step in and help.

Yet, rather than just wallowing in all that, he brought both his experiences and his feelings before God.  And as he brought them before God, it appears that the Psalmist realized that while there were some valid reasons to feel cast down and disquieted, there were many more reasons for hope in light of the greatness of God and the help of His favor and presence.

The Psalmist also concluded that he needed to direct his heart to “hope in God”.  This was not a senseless kind of hope, but a hope that is based on the fact that God had helped him in the past and would do so in the future.

So while we may feel tempted to surrender to or wallow in our feelings of being cast down and disquieted, it’s imperative that we question why we have those feelings.  In questioning them, we honestly bring them before God while reminding ourselves who God is and what He has done.  And we say to ourselves “hope in God” because He has helped us in the past and will do so in the future.

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