For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, my God,
    and plead my cause
    against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
    deceitful and wicked.
2 You are God my stronghold.
    Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?
3 Send me your light and your faithful care,
    let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
    to the place where you dwell.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
    to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
    O God, my God.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Saviour and my God.

A. Find Out:

1. What does the writer ask God to do? v.1
2. How does he see the Lord? v.2a
3. Yet what does he feel has happened? v.2b,c
4. What does he ask to happen? v.3a
5. What does he expect to happen as a result? v3b,4.
6. What does he tell himself to do? v.5

B. Think:

1. What signs are there that this psalm is a continuation of Psalm 42?
2. What is David’s “problem”?
3. What does he see the answer to be?

C. Comment:

     The note at the bottom of the page in your Bible will tell you that this, in many Hebrew manuscripts, is simply a continuation of the previous psalm. Verse 5 is a repeat of verses 5 & 11 in that previous psalm.

     Let’s consider, first of all, David’s problem . David feels he needs deliverance from wicked people, indeed a wicked nation! He asks God to vindicate him, to show him to be in the right when so many others are wrong. Usually he feels the Lord is a stronghold to him, but at the moment he feels he is out in the open, exposed to the unrighteous all around him. He feels he is being oppressed by these people.

   Let’s then look at David’s solution . He has two prongs to his solution. The first is he needs the Lord to speak. When the Lord does that, he knows that God’s words will come as light and truth and guidance that will lead him into a good place, a place of worship and praise again.

    The second prong is his own activity: he speaks to himself, he challenges himself with the truth. You know what the answer is, he says to himself, put your hope in the Lord, He will come through for you!

D. Application:

1. We need to hear God’s voice for daily encouragement.
2. Until we do, we need to hold onto the revelation we have had so far and simply trust the Lord in that.