Psalm 43

1Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
5Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
-Psalm 43

There is a lot to consider as we look at this Psalm. There is seeking for vindication, a plead for the Lord to preserve, and the same cast down prayer we saw in Psalm 42. However, in the midst of this we have a passage that should go far from unnoticed and should in fact be our focus.

The prayer is for the Lord to send His light and truth that the psalmist would be led by them. As Bible students, our lightbulb should be going off as we read light and truth in this context. This ultimately points to Jesus. Jesus is the light. Jesus is the truth. We are to be led by Him. Where does this leading take us? It takes us to His tabernacle. The tabernacle is where the Lord dwells. As Jesus leads us to tabernacle with the Lord we are dwelling in His presence. Dwelling in the sweet presence of Jesus we have no response but that of praise and abundant joy.

The cry out in verse 5 seems to carry about a more hopeful tone than in the previous Psalm resulting in such praise of the Lord. Hope in God, for you shall yet praise Him.