Why are you downcast?

Psalm 42

1For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6 my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?"

10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

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

Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?

3 Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

4 Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

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

King David. Now THERE was a ruler I could have voted for! Well, in retrospect I could have voted for him. In his LATTER years I could have voted for him. In his early adult years, not so much. He was an adulterer, a man of many wives, a murderer, and refused to see his own evil until confronted. Yet, he is remembered as a man after God's own heart.

David has his "fair share" of enemies. He knew what it was like to live among men and women who did not have a heart for God, a heart for the Truth, a heart for what is right. And he knew what it was to be disappointed. Look at the words above in GREEN. He was downcast! He was saddened by what he saw around him.

I feel like David tonight. Well, not the part about adultery & murder, and goodness knows one husband is enough! LOL! But, I know the downcast feeling. And look at those words in BLUE. Plead my cause against an ungodly nation! Wow. Can anyone relate to this?

My candidate didn't win tonight's election. I really had hoped against hope that it would be a surprise victory. If you look at the electoral votes, it looks like a landslide victory. Yet, if you look at the popular vote, last I saw the tally was 48% to 52%. That's a very narrow margin. We are a country divided. I don't know Mr. Obama personally. I certainly will not be the one to call him "deceitful and wicked" without seeing him in action. But, I will say that my definition of deceitful & wicked and God's are quite different. In my human form, deceitful and wicked renders images of adulterers & murderers (hmmm, seems I mentioned that before). In GOD's eyes, according to His Word, not mine, we are ALL deceitful & wicked. We have ALL fallen short of His glory. So, in God's eyes, in my own flesh, without His help, I am deceitful and wicked, and John McCain and Sarah Palin are deceitful and wicked, and YES, in GOD's eyes Mr. Obama is deceitful and wicked. What I DO know is that God has a standard & I can't meet it on my own. I DO know that it is ONLY through HIS Word that any of us know what HE says is right & wrong. I can't meet His standards. Only with Jesus as my Savior working through me as the Holy Spirit can I even begin to do anything pleasing to Him.

I also DO know that according to my Bible, there are things that are an abomination to the Lord. One of those things is murdering innocent babies before they have a chance to live. I am unwaveringly pro-life and anti-abortion. I realize this is probably an unpopular thing to be, but I'm really not too concerned with winning the popular vote (even if I did, I'd need an electoral college to REALLY elect me). Another issue that God's Word is VERY clear about is sodomy. If God destroyed an entire city because men had traded natural desires for women in exchange for unnatural lusts for each other, there is little doubt in my mind that God's plan is for marriage to be between a man and a woman. I also believe that God gives parents the right to raise their kids and educate them in the best way they choose to do so.

Why is my soul downcast like David's tonight? Because I see in our president-elect a man who says a woman can choose to "abort" her baby if she wants to. He does not say "pro-abortion" but chooses the term "pro-choice." The truth is, if you think abortion is wrong, yet you say it's okay for a woman to have one, you are condoning it. If I said, "I think killing people with green eyes is wrong, but if someone wants to do it, that's his choice." If you view abortion as murder, then you cannot condone it in anyway. In my understanding, Mr. Obama has said in a debate that he thinks a woman should have that choice. I do not view that as him valuing the life of the child.

I will not go into detail about my 2nd point, that according to God's Word, marriage is to be between ONE man and ONE woman. Adultery, fornication, and homosexuality all fall outside of that guideline. We've all sinned, and many of us who are now Christians have likely sinned in this area. I believe that it is a slippery slope when we start promoting as normal what God calls sin.

Third, parental rights is near & dear to my heart, as is education. I am a teacher. I have taught in public schools, in private schools, in tutoring situations, to missionary kids, and am currently teaching my own children as we have chosen to educate them at home. I will expound on this another time, but I will say anyone who says we need to get ALL 3 year olds into early childhood education scares me. Perhaps it should be AVAILABLE to anyone, and not just lower income families. However, I pray it will not become mandatory. My kids are past that age, but to force parents to part with a 3 year old when they do not WANT to do so is a crime. This is a point I heard Obama make more than one time.

Yes, my soul is downcast, it is disturbed within me. But, like David, I know the solution. It is not to put my hope in men or women. It is not to be downtrodden because our president elect has views that differ so greatly from God's Word. The solution is to put my hope in HIM, my Savior and my God. He is still on His Throne. He has a purpose & a plan. Praise to Him who sets rulers over nations.