I Shall Again Praise Him

Discouragement is as common to the human experience as birth and death.

Most of us experience a fair amount of happiness, pleasure, love, and hope. But all of us know what it is to suffer loss, disappointment, and heartache. Some pains are temporary and relatively minor, others are lifelong and heart-stabbing. How do we, how should we handle these inevitable seasons of discouragement that come into our lives?

In the 42nd psalm, David models for us the way to battle our way out of pits of despair: "Why are you cast down, O my soul?" (5). And among the weapons in his arsenal is this perhaps-surprising confidence: "I shall again praise him, my salvation." How can David be so certain that all this pain will result in his praising God and God delivering him? Well, it has to do with the nature of all pain, and with the nature of God.