Why Are You Cast Down O My Soul?

Text: Psalm 42

Reflection and Question: This psalm is my refuge when the imperfections and failures of this world get me down, when “deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me.” After decades of working for full inclusion of all the faithful in the church, it is easy to join with the psalmist’s cry, “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” Knowing that another shares my yearning helps me turn toward the hope envisioned by this writer. What casts your soul down and what lifts you up again?

Prayer: As deer long for the streams, O Lord, So my soul also seeks Your face;
When will my soul, athirst for God, Appear before the God of grace?
Why, O my soul, are you so full of heaviness, why so downcast?
O put your trust in God, my help; I will give thanks to God at last. Amen.

This meditation is based on the Daily Lectionary Year 1 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).