It's been a long day. . .

Psalm 42

BOOK II : Psalms 42-72

For 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 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.

My sin weighs heavy upon my tender heart. All day long I groan inwardly to my God, my Father. As I see the utter corruption of my flesh stain every thought, word, and deed I produce. My heart is burdened beyond what seems bearable. For I know my rebellion; I know the guilt of my sin.

"If today He deigns to bless us with a sense of pardoned sin; He tomorrow may distress us, make us feel the plague within."

If only I knew the depths of my own heart as well as my Father knows them then I would see just how desperate my condition truly is. O Holy Spirit! Come quickly with power and truth and righteousness! Grant me the sweet grace of repentance, and restore unto me the joy of the salvation of the Lord! Grant to my soul that sweet, immeasurable grace of knowing the finality and fullness of my redemption! I have no other refuge save that of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ; no other shelter apart from that which lies beneath his wings; no other comfort besides that which awaits me near his bosom. "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." Surely it is the Lord's grace which produces godly grief leading to repentance and restoration! "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

How vast and immense are the depths of the riches of the Lord God Almighty!

How sweet the melody which streams through my soul!

A song of redemption encloses before and behind me!

The grace of God makes my broken spirit whole!