Psalm 42:3: “My tears have been my food day and night …”
To me, no passage in the Bible better illustrates what it feels like to go through a severe emotional trial. I can remember several occasions in my life that my tears truly have been my food, for days on end. David was also no stranger to such trials. He is therefore able to write such words with the uptmost credibility.
David goes onto say, in Psalm 42:5 “Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you mourn over me and be disquited within me? …”
It’s interesting, how David separates himself from his ‘inner self’. I believe David’s ‘innner self’ is what we call his ‘heart’. David was suffering from a broken heart, in other words.
David concludes Psalm 42:5 with“… Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my help and my God.
By encouraging himself with such words, David’s mind is actually able to influence his heart. I’m more familiar with the opposite principle . . . . that is, my gireving heart influencing my mind (and sending it spiraling into depression.) In fact, I find it very difficult to think, or speak, positively, when I’m discouraged or in despair.
So, what was David’s secret? How was he able to do it? What did David know that I don’t know?
