Hope

Hope

Psalm 42:9

Psalm 42:9 - Watercolor

This seems like a strange verse to do a drawing of; it doesn’t sound overly encouraging or even a very ‘pretty’ choice of subject. But, I can’t help but love the book of Psalms; I appreciate the writer’s honesty and real feelings on the page.

Have you ever felt like you were forgotten by God? Felt like you were pouring your heart out to God and the thought creeps in that says, ‘maybe He’s not listening.’ I know I have, and apparently the Psalmist had those feelings too.  When God led me to this verse and I had the idea of doing a speed drawing of it with a snippet of my thoughts on it, it made me kind of uncomfortable to even admit that I had those kinds of feelings. In my mind I’m going “Wait, no, God hasn’t forgotten me, I need to trust Him, and I don’t want to feel like this, this seems wrong somehow like I’m letting God down for feeling this way.” 

But isn’t it cool that God included this in His Love Letter, known as the Bible. He included accounts of people’s lives where their story was less than perfect, but God came through in His perfect grace and timing. And I love how even in the Psalmist’s moment of feeling forgotten by God, he still calls God his “Rock” there is still a cry of faith in that moment of despair and sadness. The Psalmist may be feeling pretty low but he still knows in his heart that God is his Rock.

We all have an enemy, for some of us that may be a physical enemy, which I think is likely what the Psalmist is referring to here. But even if we don’t have a physical enemy in our life we do have a spiritual one. Satan, the father of lies is our enemy who “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)*gulp* Sounds to me like the devil isn’t playing, he doesn’t just want to irritate us, he wants to devour us. He wants to destroy whatever he can in our lives. The NIV version of this verse says “Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”  

I don’t know about you, but some days I’ve felt oppressed by the enemy. I Struggle with feelings of doubt or anxiety, with feelings of inadequacy and fear, wondering if there is hope. Maybe for you it’s depression, anger, lust, or worry. But there is hope, so much more than we can even imagine. It’s in those moments of feeling oppressed that we need to press into God. Keep praying, cry out to Him. He is listening, you are not forgotten. You are important to Him.

He is our Rock, just as the Psalmist said. Even on the enemy’s best day his strength never compares to God. No matter the battle, Jesus has already won. This Psalm ends like this: “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 42:11 NIV) Put your hope in God, you won’t be disappointed.

- Written By Danielle D.

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