Psalms 42 and 43: Spiritual Despair

READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXXI

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Psalms 42 and 43

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Psalms 42 and 43 were originally one text.

The psalmist presents himself as a pious person suffering from derision.  (Words matter.)  He, cut off socially, endures persecution and yearns to come to the Temple in Jerusalem.  He is downcast–sad, bent over from his plight.  The psalmist–his soul, in many translations–yearns for God.  Given that Judaism in not Platonism, Robert Alter’s translation of the germane Hebrew word as “I,” “whole being,” and “being,” but never as “soul,” makes sense.

The spiritual despair in Psalms 42 and 43 is not unique.  One may detect it, for example, in the prophet Jeremiah and in Jesus of Nazareth, between the Bible’s covers.  One can also detect this spiritual despair in the lives of saints, such as St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), who wrote Dark Night of the Soul.  Perhaps one even recognizes having felt the same type of despair.

Spiritual life has peaks and valleys.  The peaks are pleasant; the valleys are not.  Yet the spiritual valleys are frequently times during which we grow more than we do during spiritual peaks.  This is my experience.  I appreciate and feel grateful for my spiritual growth during time spent in valleys.  However, I do not want to spend any more time in spiritual valleys, even though I know that I will.

In a scene in First Reformed (2018), a depressed minister sits with a group of youth at an Evangelical megachurch.  One male adolescent has a superficial understanding of spiritual life.  He says:

If happiness came in pill size, it would have JC stamped on it.

Those for whom spiritual life is superficial may shun the valleys and dismiss the ennui of people in them.  Yet spiritual depth grasps that valleys are unavoidable stages in spiritual journey.  And, if we were always on spiritual peaks, we would be incapable of appreciating them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 5, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF ANTONIO LOTTI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF FELIX MANZ, FIRST ANABAPTIST MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT GENOVEVA TORRES MORALES, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS AND THE HOLY ANGELS

THE FEAST OF JOHN NEPOMUCENE NEUMANN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF PENNSYLVANIA

THE FEAST OF MARGARET MACKAY, SCOTTISH HYMN WRITER

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