Psalm 43

Verse 5...

Why are you cast down, O my soul, 

     and why are you in turmoil within me? 

Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, 

     my salvation and my God.

What a good friend the Psalmist is to the saints of God. How comforting it is to realize that I am not the only weak one. How strengthening it is to read his resolve to "hope in God" and "again praise Him" even as he is aware that his soul is cast down and in turmoil.

I've referred recently to the writings of Richard Sibbes (here and here), and this present psalm seems an appropriate place to share a few more quotes from his wonderful book The Soul's Conflict and Victory Over Itself by Faith...

Speak to God, to Jesus Christ by prayer, that as He rebuked the winds and the waves and went upon the sea, so He would walk upon our souls and command a calm there. It is no less power to settle a peace in the soul than to command the seas to be quiet... 

Faith looks to the word promising, hope to the thing promised in the word; faith looks to the authority of the promiser, hope especially to the goodness of the promise; faith looks upon things as present, hope as to come hereafter. God as the first truth, is that which faith relies on; but God as the chief good is that which hope rests on. Trust or confidence is nothing else but the strength of hope. If the thing hoped for be deferred, then of necessity it enforces waiting, and waiting is nothing else but hope and trust lengthened.