MORE LIGHT PLEASE!
Psalms 43:3-5 NKJV
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
David must be going through a season of difficulty. The psalm we looked at yesterday spoke of being oppressed but still placing his hope and trust in God. Now David is praying for vindication from lying and unjust men. And David's enemies seem to be still causing him grief and pain.
David asks for something that stood out to me as I read this psalm. David asks for God to send out His light and His truth so that light and truth could lead David to a better place. This gives us a different way to pray. We can ask God for His light and His truth on the situations we face. When we have His light and truth, we can walk out of the darkness of the situation and walk closer to God. David spoke of light and truth bringing him to the holy hill and tabernacle of God. We might say that God's light and truth can bring us into God's presence.
David knew that being in God's presence was a good thing. That in God's presence was where joy, true joy, existed. That in God's presence is where David could worship on his harp and praise God, who was his God. This progression moved David from pleading with God to a stronger place of declaring who God was to him. Here is where David again questions his negative thoughts and emotions. Instead of yielding to the negatives, David challenges the negatives. The question of why are you down and troubled was more of a rhetorical question. David did not want to know why he was having negative, depressing, troubling thoughts. Instead, David was questioning the validity of those oppressive thoughts and emotions. After all, David could put his hope, his expectation, in God. And more than that, David chose to praise God. Praising the God who was his help and God.
David also used the phrase 'help of my countenance.' Three other translations use the term salvation. I will praise Him, my salvation, my Savior, and my God. A very scholarly translation, Young's Literal, uses the term 'the salvation of my countenance.' The word countenance can be defined as representing a person as a whole. But it is also reflective of someone's mood or attitude. So when David describes the Lord as the health or help of his countenance, we can very easily take that to mean God helps my attitude. So when David is talking to his own mind and emotions, he recognizes the need to turn to God, who can lift his mood and refresh his attitude. To David, being downcast and troubled was not the place that was normal. David knew that if he was expecting good from God, he would not be down and discouraged.
APPLICATION
I do believe we can ask the Lord for more light and truth when facing difficult times. We don't want to just figure it out on our own; we want His light and His truth. If His light and truth are leading us, we'll wind up in the right place.
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for sending Your light and truth into my life. I want Your light and truth so that I have an answer for the times I am tempted to be down and discouraged. But I know that if I am looking to You and praising You, then You will help lift my attitude. You are my God!