Why Are You Cast Down, O my soul?

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

–Psalm 42:5–6 (ESV)

Beloved? Listen, please.

(deep breath)

You’re floundering.

Be still, O my soul.

O, heart! You…flutter excitedly, for a little while, and then…you stop short. You begin to doubt. You start to question. And, down, down, DOWN you go.

This keeps happening.
“What is happening?” - you ask.

I’ll tell you (said gently).

Your faith, beloved, it’s waning, again.

Hey now, there, there. All is well.

Even though your grip is slipping, His isn’t.

Beloved? You’re leaning far too much again on your feelings, your understanding of things; your dim-witted perspective…it’s…lacking (said ever so tenderly).

You see…you tend to get all tangled up when you depend upon your own limited view. This seems to be a repeating pattern for you, beloved. And…it seems to blindside you, just when you think you’re holding fast. That’s when it seems most likely to settle in, and take over. (sigh)

Beloved? Please don’t become discouraged. Even though you thrash about…your God…He is unchanging. Remember, beloved? Do you recall the words in Lamentations 3:21-23? I know you do.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

And, oh! How about John 14:27:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

It’s in moments like these, beloved, I reckon, we must conjure up these precious promises…we must ponder these beautiful words provided for us by the One called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Everything we see, everything we feel, everything we think, beloved…can deceive us. These things may pierce us. Aye, they may chew us up and spit us out, they may torment us, defy us…they may altogether nearly ruin us.

Well! Isn’t that a consoling word!? Ha!

But…beloved (said with extra tenderness)?

We’re not our own.

If we were our own, we’d be fighting tooth and nail right now. If we were our own, we’d be grasping. We’d be taking whatever we could get our hands on. We’d demand love. We’d do anything in our power to have it. We’d cheat, we’d steal, we’d deceive, we’d pretend to be someone we’re not…we’d say “I will have this by my own hand”, we’d be slaves to our own will - if we were our own.

Oh, and besides, we’d never obtain that which we so desperately sought after, anyways. We might “win”, but we’d still, ultimately, lose. Just like Chicks tried to claw his way into winning the Piston cup in the original Cars movie produced by Pixar; he won, and yet, he lost. This makes me cry every time I watch it. (ahem) True victory isn’t something that is taken, it’s given.

We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

–Romans 8:37

And so…thanks be to God we’re not our own! We’ve been bought with a price.

…You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

– 1 Corinthians 6:19–20

This, without proper context, could be terrifying, perhaps. Because, we could, of course, be the property of one who might abuse us, take us for granted, or make sport out of us, or ruin us all together - amongst other things. And, I wouldn’t blame them, one bit. I deserve every bit of it.

But, beloved?

The One who has bought us, His name is Love. We don’t have to pine for it anymore. We don’t have to cheat to have it. We don’t have to finagle our way in. It’s already ours. We just have to believe it to be true. We have to trust that it is, indeed, truer than anything and everything else we perceive with these eyes, and hear with these ears, and feel with this heart.