Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9
There is a company that creates customized films, based on the client’s requests. Elaborate proposals, birthday wishes, baby reveals etc. can be delivered with the help of professionals who create a script, hire actors, scout out locations and film short films for a small and select audience. The husband and wife who created this company was recently interviewed on NPR and shared some of their more unique requests, the most heartbreaking being a client who simply wanted someone to tell him he was loved and that everything was going to be ok. The actress who was selected for the solo role struggled through tears as she spoke about having also experienced rough, lonely times and how hard it can be to believe that it will get better. Her heart went out to this person and she wanted him to know he wasn’t alone. Despite being very isolating, times like these are actually very common – many people go through a year or more when things have been too hard for too long and they begin to feel as though nothing can help them.
The person who wrote Psalm 42 was in this place emotionally and spiritually. A former worship leader, he writes that his only food are his tears; salty and hot they trickle into his mouth only to come back out his eyes in a tortuous loop. He remembers being at the base of Mount Hermon which is kept green and lush from a waterfall. “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” He longs for the fresh, cool and abundant water from God. He has felt it before and he trusts his tears will be spiritually washed away by that water again.
In writing this Psalm it’s almost as though he is creating his own video. This is his own tangible reminder that God loves him and even though things are bad right now, they will get better. His own lullaby to help him through a dark night. Even though his sadness makes his bones ache and there are times when he really feels as though God has abandoned him, he ends his lullaby with the phrase, “I will put my hope in God and I know that someday this will end and I will be able to praise God for that.”