There are moments that we wish we could say thank you and be thankful but we just can’t. If we are to be honest, thank you gets trapped in these mixed emotions of hope and despair.
Even though we try hard to live in a zone of eternal happiness, life is a marathon filled with mixed emotions. Someone once said that,
“To live perpetually in the light injures the eyes…The high mood kept too long is likely to be hysterical; the depressed mood endured too long will become morbid”
(read Psalm 42)
Have you ever run a marathon? Well, I never have. Yet, as a lay person, there are a couple things I have observed about marathons: one is we have to maintain a certain rhythm. If we go too fast, we might get tired too fast and will not finish the marathon. Or, if we run too slow, we will be left behind and might not finish either. Like I said, we must have a certain rhythm. Also, in a marathon, the runners get to stop from time to time to get a little drink of water. The stop for a drink of water is not at the finish line but certainly refreshes the runners for what is to come.
Psalm 42 has a rhythm, too. No, it does not talk about marathons. But when I read or listen to Psalm 42, the Psalmist beautifully portrays what I call the rhythm of life. He says,
“As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. When can I go and stand before him? Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually provoke me, saying, ‘Where is this God of yours?’” (v. 1-3).
The Psalmist starts Psalm 42 by describing a strong sense of desperation. He starts by saying that he is thirsty and tired. Very much like a Marathon, the Psalmist seems to be in one of those pivotal moments in life in which he is experiencing what I call emotional and spiritual dehydration. Like physical dehydration, emotional and spiritual dehydration causes extreme fatigue and hallucinations. More importantly, emotional and spiritual dehydration can be as fatal as physical dehydration.
In this marathon called life you might be running as a sprinter instead of a marathoner. Therefore, you need to slow down. I mean, like the psalmist, we need to recognize that we might be on the verge of spiritual and emotional dehydration. Spiritual and emotional dehydration can be fatal. If we keep running as sprinters, we might collapse without finishing the race. What are the things that are causing us to be emotionally and spiritually thirsty and dehydrated?
In Psalms 42, the psalmist does not seem very thankful. Thank you is present in Psalm 42 but in a very realistic manner. In the midst of his spiritual and emotional dehydration, the Psalmist finds himself in a place where he dreams about times when he was excited and joyfully saying thank you. He asserts,
“My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshippers, leading a great procession of the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks [surrounded by] the sound of a great celebration!” (v. 4).
Have you ever had a flashback about a good moment in your life? The Psalmist seems to have had flashbacks about times when he was really thankful. No, it is not good to live life based on flashbacks. Yet, when we face emotional and spiritual dehydration, isn’t it good to think about times when everything seemed to be nice and fine? When impossible times come and we feel we cannot go on, isn’t it good to remember the good times? Perhaps, the Psalmist is saying that God gave us the skills and capacity to remember so that we can go on during hard times. He gave us the capacity to remember that things are not always dry and lifeless. Perhaps, your marathon is getting harder and harder. Today might be a good time to remember the good old times. Don’t dwell on the dryness of the situation.
The other realistic aspect of this thank you note brought up in v. 4 is that there are times that we don’t feel so thankful. The Psalmist implies that the best he can do is to dream about and/or have flashbacks about times he was thankful. The Psalmist does not try to pretend by saying that he is thankful when he is not. Perhaps, he is teaching us that in this marathon called life, we don’t have to pretend to God. We can tell God how it is. Actually, pretending before others but especially before God causes us to be even more emotionally and spiritually dehydrated
The Psalmist seems to be convinced that the way to go in this marathon called life is to quit pretending. So much so, that the rest of psalm 42 becomes a back and forth of the ups and downs of life. He affirms,
“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again my Savior and my God!” (v. 5).
The Psalmist repeats time and again the same idea of being discouraged, and then he puts his hope in God all the way to the very end of the psalm (v. 11).
In a very poetic manner, the Psalmist seems to be saying that this marathon called life is filled with both encouraging and not so encouraging moments. We have moments when we feel thankful and moments when we don’t feel so thankful. The key is not to deny that we go through moments of spiritual and emotional dehydration. The key is not to pretend that we are thankful when we don’t feel so thankful. But the Psalmist implies that the key to cross the finish line is to maintain the rhythm during this marathon called life.
The problem many times is we spend most of our lives trying to get rid of the moments that are not so encouraging. We try to get rid of moments when we are not so thankful and remember only the ones when thanks can be given. The psalmist reminds us that, in this marathon called life, in the rhythm of discouraging and low moments we can find the presence of God as much as in high moments. The apostle Paul portrays the reality of the rhythm of life. In the letter he writes to the Corinthians, he says,
“…that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human are allowed to tell [4]…I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong [10]” (II Corinthians 12:4; 10)
How is your rhythm in this marathon called life? Do you feel spiritually and emotionally dehydrated? As thanksgiving is approaching, you might not feel that thankful. Perhaps, through Psalm 42, God is telling, “Don’t pretend.” Perhaps, He is reminding us that He never designed us to be sprinters but to be marathoners. And as such, we will constantly have ups and downs, encouraging and discouraging moments, and moments when the joy of being thankful seems to be very far away. Perhaps, He reminds us that He designed us to make stops and get refreshed. Perhaps, He is reminding us that the low and discouraging moments were well designed for us to be as close to Him as the high and encouraging moments of life. He reminds us that He always there with cup of fresh water that will keep us going one extra mile…
This is great man!