Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - June/69

Contributor - Victor W. Ebert

Title - A Meditation

Topic - Meditation

Read: Psalm 42

Text: "Why are you cast down, 0 my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?" (v. 5)

One of the strange, yet marvelous, things about each one of us is that we can hold a conversation with ourselves. We can, in a way,, actually take ourselves apart and make two people out of ourselves - one talking with the other, questioning and answering the other - and yet there are not two persons but only one. Perhaps you and I might call this only a trick of language but what the Psalmist says in Psalm 42 is something that we all do and all feel. As we read this psalm, with its pathetic beauty of the hart longing for flowing streams and the little hill of Hermon and the penitent tears of a royal king, we read it all straight through, comprehending it, taking it in as we do the simplest and commonest statement of fact. But then we suddenly must remember that David is not speaking here as a king, or as a warrior, or as a philosopher, or as a poet - but as a man. And what he says is not only a cry coming out of his deepest distress and longing, but it is something that is equally a part of our lives, something that is as real to most of us as anything we have ever felt, though we perhaps would not be able to put it into words as clearly or as strikingly as he did: "Why are you so cast down, 0 my soul, and why are you so disquieted within me?"

First of all, we must take note why it is that this man is cast down and so disquieted And the cause is apparently something that pertains to himself; not another man's troubles or another man's sins. At times,. oh, he has a great deal of sympathy for other people but not just now. And from what is written it appears that it is not even an anxiety because of poverty, or misfortune, or enemies, or sickness, or any physical pain that concerns him. He has another reason for his depression and disquietness. And the precise point before us is that this other shadow darkens his life and disturbs his peace. What he feels and what he cries for, quite clearly, is a different part of him - the spirit within. He now knows that he has more than just a body of flesh, bones, and nerves, a body to be clothed and fed. Deeper than that he sees that he has more than the intellectual ability or faculty which thinks and learns and remembers or does business and plans. He has come to know that he has a soul; that it belongs to him, is a part of him and more than that is the chief or primary part of his being. Something is the matter with that soul. What is it?

This discovery which the psalmist makes is just what takes place when a man - no matter how respectable or intelligent he might be - answers to the call or voice of the Gospel. And I am sure that there are many people, even those in their early years, who have had times or at least moments which are not talked about, not half understood by themselves, not dealt with in any way - times when their hearts have been troubled, times when they have become discontent with themselves, perhaps even with what they have been and what they are right now. And with these have come that sharp cutting sense that something is wrong, something is wanting of some weakness, some failure, some emptiness. This is God's way of personally dealing with you, and it makes no difference what brings it: a disappointment, a sickness, a loss, a sermon, a particular time of year, something you read, a hidden touch from above. Yes, everyone has a soul. You have a soul. And now you ask why it is cast down and disquieted within you.

When this happens the question that rushes to the foreground of our thoughts takes various shapes or forms: "Has this life I'm living any real purpose or aim?" "What am I living for?" "Am I living for any reason other than my own immediate, passing, selfish interest?" "Is it really a serious thing to live taking the world as it is for granted and yet wondering at the same time why I have been created?" "Oh, I've had some good desires but I didn't take pains to put them to work. I've felt generous and I've wanted to do something for someone else but then my old selfish habits took over again. I was ashamed, too, for a while but then this wore off and I was just like I was before." "Something's lacking inside and it holds me back from what I really know I should do............. These are some of the ways people have put it. And when we look back at these things it is no wonder why our souls are cast down. It is no wonder you are disquieted within us, 0 our souls!

The psalmist who uttered the sharp cry contained in Psalm 42 knew it and felt it all. And so he entered that dark place, the depth of it, and came out. How did he do this? Exactly as we can if we do come out. Not by hiding of running away, not by ,exerting his own pride or selfishness, not by what he knew, not by science or intellect. He got out of it just as every downcast and disquieted soul has ever gotten out of it from his day to ours. And we find the answer in these words:

"O my God, my soul is cast down within me, therefore I will remember thee ... deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love'; and at niglht his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life" (vv. 6-8).

The way out is simple - very simple.

What about yesterday? that is forgiven because the Father must forgive. Tomorrow? that is safe with Him, too. You, if you know Him through Jesus Christ, have learned that peace which passes this world's understanding. You are satisfied with the satisfaction of your Father's house, at your Saviour's table, and the fellowship of the Spirit which nothing can ever disturb.

"Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish,

Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel;

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish. Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal.

Joy of the desolate, Light of the straying,

Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!

Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying

'Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heap.,,

Prayer:

0 God, I would want to put my whole hope and refuge in thee and I would want to rest my anguish and trouble on Thee. Nothing that I do or can do can deliver or shelter me. Only thou canst help me, strengthen me, console me, instruct me and guard me. Do protect and keep my soul, Father, among the dangers of this life and by thy grace direct me along the way of peace to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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