Why Are You Cast Down?

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.  

Psalm 43:5  

In the course of life we may often find ourselves cast down. Because it does occur to many of us as a practical reality, we have reason to ask ourselves, ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul?’ In the case of the psalmist it was ‘an ungodly nation’ and ‘deceitful, unjust’ men. They were oppressive to this man and by logical inference, his people. Thus, he was cast down with good reason. Having said that, there are others in the Scripture who were cast down with good reason. Moses was cast down because of the contrariness of the children of Israel in the wilderness. David was cast down because of the murderous campaign of Saul against him. Elijah was cast down because of his physical tiredness as well as mental and spiritual exhaustion. These are a few instances of many. We want to recognize that to be cast down of soul is a common human experience from which followers of Christ are not exempt. Faith in Christ does not mean we will not experience hours of darkness. If we do experience them we are not less than truly spiritual. Many who have trusted in Christ have been cast down. We are not alone.    

Our Gracious Master and our God,  
we praise You that You have partaken in our humanity,  
and that you understand us.  
In our darkest hours, we hope in You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning