Psalm 43: the miracle of prayer
Verse 11 from Psalm 42 is repeated in verse 5 of this psalm. It’s a befitting encouragement to end a prayer along the same theme as the one laid out in Psalm 42.
Verse 2 makes an interesting point: “Why must I go around in mourning, harrassed by the enemy?” Why indeed, when we belong to God?
An interesting aside: see verse 3 for a hint that dates this psalm. The author of the psalm asks God to “send out Your light and truth”. Nowadays, we would say, “send us your Holy Spirit and Your Word, our Father in heaven!” Before Christ’s coming, the notion of a Holy Spirit was foreign to people. Now, it’s a clear and welcome notion, and a request that we would all do well to remember to make.
Again, the advantage of being able to pray to God anywhere, anytime, makes itself visible here. The author of the psalm wishes to “go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy,” to the “place where You dwell.” We can do that 24/7 by simply putting our hands together, going on our knees and communing with God. When we do that, we, too, visit God’s “holy mountain”.
There’s an interesting saying I heard: “prayer doesn’t bring God down to us, it brings us up to Him.” How true, and how profound, that an act as simple as prayer could raise us out of our misery, stress, worries, diseases, heartaches and pain, and bring us up to God, to a place and time where they don’t matter any more. It’s wonderful!
