Psalm 43 - Day 43

¹ Vindicate me, my God,
   and plead my cause
   against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
   deceitful and wicked.
² You are God my stronghold.
   Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
   oppressed by the enemy?
³ Send me your light and your faithful care,
   let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
   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 lyre,
   O God, my God.

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God.

Do you remember in school when people would accuse you of something you didn't do? They would pick on you, torment you or call you names just because of something they heard. If there was no one around who saw your side of the story, then you had no back up. Did you have a friend who would back you up no matter what? Even if they didn't see or hear the truth. They would stick by you because they loved you and knew who you were as a person. This is what David is asking God to do. To let his enemies know the truth. David asks why God has rejected him because he feels like God won't save him from this captive state. David is afraid he can't worship God because he is not in the temple, but then realized God IS with him! He has been all along.

Don't we do this sometimes too? Think God has left us to fin for ourselves only to realize He never left. This is more common than we think. Verse 5 is repeated three times; Psalm 42: 5, 11 and now here. David must be realizing now the God really will deliver him.