To remember

"I remembered these things, and I poured out my soul within myself: how I went with the crowd, and went in company with a voice of triumph and praise to the house Of God ... a multitude in festival." Psalm 42. 4

Without the reasons given, the author of Psalm 42 was removed from the sanctuary, the place where the people gathered to worship God. He goes through a period of abasement (v. 6); The waves and the waves pass over him (v. 7). He loses his appetite, his tears have become his daily "bread". "As the deer squashes after the currents of water," his soul thirsts for the living God (v. 2). The absence of communion becomes unbearable. And to further increase his pain, his enemies make his suffering a mocking subject to his faith and to God himself : "Where is your God ?" He repeated to him.

This dramatic situation reminds the psalmist of the happy time when he went to the house of God in the midst of the joy and cries of gratitude of all the people in festivity. This retrospective marks a turning point in his reflections. Far from overwhelming it, it leads him to detach himself to fix his thoughts on the goodness of God and on God himself. If God causes him to pass through a situation that seems desperate, it is precisely to show him that he is a God of deliverances. If God has blessed him, his goodness will be revealed again : "By day the Lord will command his goodness; And by night his song will be with me, my prayer to the God of my life" (v.8).

So trust ! To the question : "Why are you down, my soul ? And why are you agitated within me ?", The psalmist replies with renewed confidence :"Wait for God ; For I will also celebrate it : he is the salvation of my face and my God" (v. 11).

The remembrance of the manifestations of God's goodness in our lives, especially in the days of trial, revives the faith and urges us to stand by it. It is then that our questions to God and his answers will lead us to songs of praise !

Source (To pleasing the Lord)