Downcast-->Hope

Tonight I was thinking of the phrase, "Why so downcast oh my soul? Put your hope in God for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God." It shows up in Psalm 42 and also Psalm 43. Honestly, I was a little irritated with this verse this evening because I can think of many reasons for my soul to be downcast. I've been following a tale of an American trying to shut down a corrupt orphanage in the Congo that abuses the few dozen child who endure there. Some children have even died from malnourishment. Stories like this make me question whether or not God really knows what He is doing. Why did He create people in the first place? (As an aside, I know I irritate most people by asking these questions, but I do think that God is big enough to handle them.) 


Further reflection and a re-reading of these Psalms revealed t hat there are certainly millions of legitimate reasons for my soul to be downcast. That is not the point. The point is that my soul should not be downcast in light of the hope that is to be found in Christ. It is the magnitude of the hope in relation to suffering that brings the shift. This shift is still a struggle for me, particularly as I see so many people devoid of hope. Yet, sometimes, I think it takes an increase in suffering for people to look for hope. Perhaps that will be the case in Japan.


P.S. When looking up Psalms 42 and 43, I also found Psalm 73. I like it when God chooses to include human frustrations in the Scripture. This Psalm is about Asaph's frustration and confusion with the prosperity of the wicked until he realized their end. Here's an excerpt:

¹²Behold, these are the wicked;
   always at ease, they^(N) increase in riches.
¹³All in vain have I^(O) kept my heart clean
   and^(P) washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all the day long I have been^(Q) stricken
   and^(R) rebuked^(S) every morning.
¹⁵If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
   I would have betrayed^(T) the generation of your children.
 ¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,
   it seemed to me^(U) a wearisome task,
¹⁷until I went into^(V) the sanctuary of God;
   then I discerned their^(W) end.