Trinity Lutheran Church

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

Sometimes things do not work out in this life, do they?  We live in a world broken by sin and it seems as though things simply do not go right for us all the time…or even most of the time. In the last several years, we have faced many challenges. And some of us have down-cast souls because of it…maybe all of us at least at one time or another. So as the guy said to his horse, “Why the long face?”

For one thing, politics have been more divisive than they have been in a very long time in this country. The conservatives and liberals have moved farther and farther apart and each has demanded that the other acquiesce or suffer their wrath.  There was a time when we would laugh and shake our heads at our neighbor's ridiculous (in our minds) ideas.  Now it seems as though everyone is out for blood.  If you say I am wrong, I must find some way to humiliate you, punish you or otherwise tear you down.  I guess we have quite a few tools at our disposal today that we didn’t once have.  It took effort to gossip about someone one phone call at a time but now we can literally text as many people as we would like, or post our devastating meanness on social media and reach the world instantly.

The Covid virus has been a royal pain as well. New viruses almost always are.  For some, it was a minor affair but for others, it brought severe illness or even death.  There too the “us versus them” mentality took root. People were generally brutally criticized for taking one position or the other.  If you said, “Hey, it’s just another virus. Life will go on.” One group of people would cheer as though you had cured cancer and another group of people would seek to dismantle your very being for being so…so what? So cavalier about a serious illness? So unfeeling about an illness that can claim thousands of lives? So dismissive of their fear? If on the other hand, you followed all the guidelines, wore your mask under all circumstances, and continue to be vigilant in defense of the virus, once more, one group will cheer and the other will mock you, call you a coward and question your faith.  Whatever happened to shaking your head, shrugging your shoulders, and moving on with your own life instead of minding everyone else’s?  Has the internet done this to us? Have we become a society of self-righteous, social-media busy-bodies who demand that every person we call friend must think like us, vote like us, and honor and cherish every societal norm that we do? 

In Psalm 42, the psalmist seems to be in an exile of some sort. He yearns to be in God’s temple and able to worship Him.  In our world, where “going to church” is seen by the majority as an optional activity that may or may not be superseded by any number of other obligations and activities, this lament from the psalmist may sound strange.  But for the people of God in the Old Testament, the worst possible thing was to be cut off from being in God’s presence in His holy temple.  Nothing could be worse. He was depressed because worldly situations were preventing him from worshipping God which in that day, could only be in the temple. That was the only place God had promised to be present.  So, the psalmist was completely and utterly depressed. His soul was cast down. It was then that he remembered something.  Hope in God.

That sounds too easy. Everything in your life falling apart? All your friends hate you? They’re repossessing your car? Well, just hope in God! But it is that easy.  One of the most amazing things about being a child of God is knowing that he has everything under control and you are a worker not a boss in the kingdom. Do you think Bill Gate’s kid ever worries about a car payment?  Do your young kids sit up at night and worry if someone will cook dinner tomorrow? Of course not, because they know that there is someone above them that has it all handled. They don’t waste a moment on needless worry.  The psalmist is going through something of which we don’t know the details but he comforts himself and us with the certainty that whatever it is, it will pass and he will still be God’s child, an inheritor of the kingdom and one who will live forever in that kingdom.

As you continue dealing with the roadblocks and irritations of this life, remember this word from the psalmist. Hope in God. It will not take away the irritations and roadblocks, but it will keep your soul from being downcast.  Whatever you are enduring today, it is an opportunity for your faith to grow, for you to learn more about and draw closer to God, and for you to settle back into the arms of Jesus and let Him drive for a while. He’s a great driver.