Psalms 43:1-2. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength:
In the previous Psalm, David had called the Lord the God of his life. Now he calls him the God of his strength. We generally sing ourselves up. We may begin in a very low key, as David did, but if we can praise God in the dark, we shall soon praise God in the light.
Psalms 43:2-4. Why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy:
«My exceeding joy,»--exceeding all the other joys I have,--exceeding still the joys of the happiest men I have ever known.
Psalms 43:4. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
It was not enough for David to say, «O God;» he cries, «O God my God.» You cannot praise another man's God. Possession is not only nine points of the law, but it is all the points of the gospel.
Psalms 43:5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.
May the Lord comfort his mourning people by such words as these!