Psalm 46:1-5 “For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah. There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High. God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.”

This song praises God for His protection and the place He provided for worship. His very Spirit flows from the temple like a stream and makes the city of Jerusalem glad!

No matter what happens in this world, whether it is a natural disaster or political upheaval, God is our refuge, strength, and help. We are His temple, and His Spirt resides in us, making us glad. We will not be moved!

John 7:38-39 ” ‘He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.’ But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.”

For additional worship: A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Psalm 45:8-17 “All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad. Kings’ daughters are amongst your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir. Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear. Forget your own people, and also your father’s house. So the king will desire your beauty, honor him, for he is your lord. The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift. The rich amongst the people entreat your favor. The princess inside is all glorious. Her clothing is interwoven with gold. She shall be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led. They shall enter into the king’s palace. Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You shall make them princes in all the earth. I will make your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever.”

Sure sounds like an earthly king and kingdom, right? Not so fast! We are the bride of Christ…

Revelation 19:7-9 “Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. He said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” ‘ He said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’ ”

Ephesians 5:35-27 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without defect.”

For additional worship: Psalm 45 (Fairest of All) – Shane & Shane

Psalm 45:1-7 “For the Chief Musician. Set to ‘The Lilies.’ A contemplation by the sons of Korah. A wedding song. My heart overflows with a noble theme. I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer. You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever. Strap your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty. In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies. Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”

A royal wedding song for a Davidic king? Yes, but also pointing forward to a very specific Davidic king…

Hebrews 1:8-9 “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.’ ”

After all, who else embodies truth, humility, and righteousness? And who else loves righteousness and hates wickedness? And who else does awesome deeds and has the keys to the nations?

Revelation 19:11-16 “I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called ‘The Word of God.’ The armies which are in heaven, clothed in white, pure, fine linen, followed him on white horses. Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.’ ”

For additional worship: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name | Reawaken Hymns

Psalm 44:23-26 “Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever. Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth. Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.”

Should we command God? While I certainly don’t think we can or should hide how we feel from God, I’m not sure that this is the best way to approach Him! But perhaps we should understand this as a plea from a hurting heart. Israel is God’s chosen people. They can’t believe that God wouldn’t help them. Are they being presumptuous? Certainly. God has constantly reminded them that there are consequences for not following the covenant. But they also know that, even if this is a result of their own unfaithfulness, God still loves them, and He is the only one they can or should cry out to.

For additional worship: Matt Maher – Lord, I Need You

Psalm 44:17-22 “All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path, though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god, won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.”

Going through trouble is bad enough. Why would you want to make it worse by turning on or turning away from God?

Paul uses this passage in Romans to remind us that, no matter what happens or what we experience, God will not forsake us!

Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, ‘For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

For additional worship: TobyMac – I just need U

Psalm 44:9-16 “But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies. You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves. You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us amongst the nations. You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us. You make us a byword amongst the nations, a shaking of the head amongst the peoples. All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face, at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger.”

What a cry: “You used to help us. You used to protect us. Now you don’t. People hate us and make fun us. Why don’t you help us???”

Sometimes this type of cry is accompanied by a realization of sin. Sometimes not. But even when we understand why something is happening, we can still be in pain. We can still be in trouble. We can and should still cry out for help!

This is sometimes called “the dark night of the soul.” The time when you feel hopelessly abandoned by God. The time when you can’t feel His presence. What should you do? Even in the midst of despair – even if you brought it on yourself – even if you can’t feel God’s presence – you still cry out to Him for help. You plow through the doubt and pain. You keep going until you experience His presence again.

For additional worship: Lord From Sorrows Deep I Call (Psalm 42)

Psalm 44:1-8 “For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm. We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old. You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad. For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them. God, you are my King. Command victories for Jacob! Through you, we will push down our adversaries. Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither will my sword save me. But you have saved us from our adversaries, and have shamed those who hate us. In God we have made our boast all day long. We will give thanks to your name forever. Selah.”

One generation heard about how God worked in the past but hadn’t experienced it themselves. They are in trouble, and they need help. They know they can’t defeat their enemies on their own, so they cry out to God for deliverance and trust in His grace!

What can we learn from this? We may have physical enemies, but we certainly have spiritual enemies. We can’t defeat them on our own – we need God’s help! That’s why we study, pray, worship and trust.

For additional worship: Thy Hand, O God, Has Guided

Psalm 43:1-5 “Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men. For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to your tents. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God. Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Saviour, my helper, and my God.”

There are some Hebrew manuscripts that have Psalm 42 and 43 connected as a single Psalm, and we can see why! At the very least, we understand why one was put after the other.

The Psalmist is facing opposition from ungodly nations and yearns to be back in Jerusalem. He cries out to be led by God’s light and truth, for then his righteousness will allow him to come and worship again in Jerusalem! God is his hope, his joy, his helper, and his savior.

We need to be led by God’s light and truth too. Those metaphors could refer to Jesus, the Spirit, or God’s Word. We rely on all three to live righteous lives!

John 14:17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

John 8:12 “Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.’ ”

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.”

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

For additional worship: Psalm 42 (I Will Praise Him Again)

Psalm 42:6-11 “My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me. GOD will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life. I will ask God, my rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’ As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, ‘Where is your God?’ Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.”

Away from Jerusalem. Surrounded by enemies. Wanting to be in the temple. Being in despair. Wondering where God is. Then being reminded of His goodness by the sun. Recognizing His majesty in the voice of the waterfalls. Being in awe because of the daunting height of the mountains. Talking to Him in the middle of the night: first expressing doubt, then expressing hope. Letting despair turn into trust and praise: “Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God!”

Haven’t you had those times in your life? When tempted to despair, turn to the creation around you to see the glory of God, and remember all that He has done for you through Jesus Christ!

For additional worship: It Is Well With My Soul | Reawaken Hymns

Psalm 42:1-5 “For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, ‘Where is your God?’ These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day. Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.”

The Psalms are sometimes divided into 5 books, with each section ending with a doxology. Book 2 begins with Psalm 42.

Psalm 41:13 “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.”

Korah led a rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16), yet his descendants end up serving in the temple as musicians. What a reminder that we are accountable for our own sins, and not somebody else’s!

Numbers 26:11 “Notwithstanding, the sons of Korah didn’t die.”

2 Chronicles 20:19 “The Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with an exceedingly loud voice.”

The Psalmist is distressed. He is separated from Jerusalem and enduring the mocking of others. He longs for the times when he led worshipers to the temple to worship and praise. In the midst of his anguish, he reminds himself that God has not deserted him and that he should hope in Him!

Although we are the temple of God and His Spirit resides within us, there are still times when we are overcome by depression, or struggle with doubts and fears. That is when we most need to express our faith and hope, crying out for God’s presence in our lives.

For additional worship: As The Deer | The Worship Initiative (ft. Shane & Shane)