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1 Vindicate me, my God,
and plead my cause against
an ungodly nation.
Rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.
2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
3 Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
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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 harp,
O God, my God.
5 Why, are you downcast O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
(NIV)
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In many Hebrew manuscripts Psalms 42 and 43 comprise one psalm.
Psalm 43: A prayer for deliverance from the ungodly
Again (Psalms 42 and 43), are two psalms that should probably be taken as one for several reasons
• The theme is the same.
• 43 is the only psalm in the second book that lacks a superscription.
• The two psalms are in fact joined together in some Hebrew manuscripts. Using the refrain “Hope thou in God” as a marker, the poem yields three stanzas.
The psalmist first, expresses his deep longing for God (42:1-5);
second, his sad lament and dejection before God (42:6-11);
finally, his sure confidence in God (43:1-5), the third stanza here in Psalm 43.
These two psalms remind me of the hymn by Fred Pratt Green, ‘when our confidence is shaken.’
Fred ends the hymn by saying ‘God is love and he redeemed us ‘.
When we are going through hard times and we feel the world is against us, just remember God is with us, helping and supporting us in the work we do for Him.
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