May 27, 2025 - Psalms 42-45

The sons of Korah:

O God, we have heard with our ears,

      our fathers have told us,

what deeds you performed in their days,

      in the days of old:

you with your own hand drove out the nations,

. . .

for not by [the people’s] own sword did they win the land,

      nor did their own arm save them,

but your right hand and your arm,

      and the light of your face,

      for you delighted in them. (44:1-3)

I was thinking, again this morning, about the Christian life and that many professing Christians go through life so downtrodden.  Certainly, the psalmists had their moments of doubt and despair but they regularly turned to God as in the above verses.  The sons of Korah recognized that their victories were the result of God being on their side and, so, they turned to him.  This testimony is repeated over and over again in the Psalms, e.g., “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” (43:5-6).  The secret to a genuinely joyful and contented life?  Hope in God!

He leadeth me: O blessed thought!

O words with heavenly comfort fraught!

Whate’er I do, where'er I be,

still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, he leadeth me;

by his own hand he leadeth me:

his faithful follower I would be,

for by his hand he leadeth me.   --Joseph H. Gilmore (1862)