I thought of the song “I Have Confidence,” from The Sound of Music, where Julie Andrews declares: “I have confidence in confidence alone; besides which you see I have confidence in me!” In the comment section of the YouTube video, someone wrote, “I sing this when I’m having a bad day.” But this is not the experience of the psalmist; nor should it be our experience as Christians. The center point of Psalm 42 and 43 is verse 42:8: “By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”

I Have Confidence In…

Because we live in a sinful, fallen world, we experience trouble. We are sinners, and so we sin. Others are sinners, and so we are sinned against. We live in a fallen world, and so we suffer. In such a world, where should we place our confidence? Where should we turn in troubled times?

Nearly twenty-five years ago, I vividly recall a time of extreme discouragement. I don’t remember the particulars, but I remember feeling downcast. The Lord brought to my attention Psalm 42 and 43 – not for the first time, but in a troubled time.

Often with passages of Scripture, we can struggle to connect with the author’s experience – or perhaps we just don’t take the time to consider how to do so.

It could be tempting to dismiss these two Psalms because we’ve never led a throng in procession to God’s house (42:2).

Read More