Prayer for Deliverance.
43 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation;
[a]O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?
Why do I go mourning [b]because of the oppression of the enemy?3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God [c]my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.5 Why are you [d]in despair, O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
[e]Hope in God, for I shall [f]again praise Him,
The [g]help of my countenance and my God.
The psalmist starts out in a pretty sad place. He is up against an ungodly nation, along with deceitful and unjust enemies. Worse, it feels like God, who is supposed to be his strength, has rejected him. Then he asks a question (v. 2) that seems directed at God, until one reads the next few verses, “Why do I go mourning…?”
In verse 3, we’ve fully rounded the corner as he asks God to lead him with His light and truth. While the psalmist started out bemoaning his oppression, he doesn’t ask God to “smite” his enemies, or to lead them in light and truth. Instead, the focus has returned to his own heart, setting his vision on God’s dwelling, and determining to praise God regardless of how he is feeling.
Verse 5 sums it up well, with a question similar to the last chapter, “Why are you in despair, O my soul?” So like the psalmist, when life looks grim, and we find ourselves in the middle of an ungodly nation, what can we do? We must put our hope in God, and praise him. Not that He has changed our situation, but that God is indeed our strength, our peace, and our joy, even in the midst of uncertainty and oppression. He will see us through, no matter how impossible it may seem.