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Psalm 44:5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

David attributes the defeat of their enemies to the Lord and to His name. In the Exodus, through the wilderness, in the promised land, and as an established kingdom it was through the Lord and His name that God’s people pushed down and trod under the enemies of God and His people. The gods of Egypt and the pagan gods of the land of Canaan were the enemies fighting to keep God’s people in bondage and prevent their possession of the Promised Land. David acknowledges that it was God, and not themselves, that secured victory over the Enemy.

We have spiritual enemies that are eager to keep us in bondage to Sin, Death, and the Devil, and to prevent our possession and enjoyment of eternal life. God had promised to Adam a Seed who would crush the head of the serpent. The Word of God promises in Romans 16:20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” This victory Jesus won for us at the Cross and the empty Tomb.

Jesus won the war for us, but He still uses us to apply the victory through preaching and hearing the Gospel,, prayer, repentance and faith. We push down and tread under through the name of Jesus. He did the work once for all, and He continues to grant the results of His victory to us who believe every day. This kind of applied faith is our response to the enemies of the soul.

Psalm 44:1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

David and his contemporaries have heard with their ears about the great works of salvation and deliverance that God did for their fathers. These works are recorded in the books of Exodus and Joshua and other places. The same God of grace and power is still with to do the same today. He saved them from their enemies, and He will deliver us today from our enemies.

How does he know? And why does he believe? Because he heard for himself the Word of salvation. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ [Romans 10:17].” We also are strengthened in our faith when we hear the Gospel, the works of God for our deliverance and salvation. On our earth, in our history, the Son of God became man to live, die, and rise for us and our salvation. We hear with our ears and are blessed and overjoyed. Hearing is seeing. Seeing is believing. Believing is being saved.

We never tire of hearing the gospel over and over, for it is that very Word that refreshes, renews, and reinvigorates us for the day and the week. “Tell me the old, old story.”

Psalm 43:3-4 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me to thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.

David prays to the Lord for His light and His truth. He trusts God to lead him with light and truth. He needs it for he is surrounded by spiritual enemies. He trusts the light and truth of God to overcome his enemies and bring him into the safe and comforting Presence of God where he will praise the Lord for deliverance and salvation and life. Because in God’s Presence he knows he will find exceeding joy. There he will praise God his God.

Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, penetrating our darkened hearts with forgiveness and true life. Jesus is the Truth of God exposing our sin, guilt, and death and revealing God’s forgiveness, life, and love. We read and hear the Law and Gospel of God’s Word weekly at His “holy hill.” And we receive by faith His Word of grace daily in our quiet time with God. We repent of sin, believe, and thank God. And our whole day is filled with joy and praise in the heart and on the lips. Ask for truth that provides the right path and for light to provide the vision to follow it.

Psalm 42:5 Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

We can talk encouraging words to our self (soul). We can ask ourself, ”Why are you depressed? Don’t you remember that you were baptized into Christ and gloriously saved by Jesus?” Change your attitude by forgetting your sin and misfortune, and remembering God and His blessings. Hope in God. Focus on His love that sent His Son and His mercy that forgives sin, takes away death, and gives His righteousness and life. Give your hopes and fears to Jesus, and let them go to give place to the promises of God. Nothing is stronger than true hope.

You will be discouraged by looking within to the self, but you will be encouraged by looking without to the Savior. His hope does not disappoint, but fills the emptiness, fulfills the longing, and lifts up the downcast soul. We may ask the question, “Why am I down?,” but be sure to solve the feeling by hearing the helpful answer: Hope in God!

Psalm 42:4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

In response to the troubles he was dealing with and the enemies he was facing, David remembered these things, the troubles of life and the promises of God, and he poured out his soul to the Lord. God knows our soul (better than we do), but He still wants us to talk to Him and hear our burdens and cares. Hannah poured out her soul to God for the burden of being childless. God heard her prayer and gave her a son, Samuel. Jesus says, “Come unto me…” Cast all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you.

Jesus died for you to give you a new life. He cares. He listens. He answers. We learn how to respond to the cares of life by giving it to God. Through the trials we learn how to give it to God and pour out our soul. Then we go to church with the multitude of believers and voice our joy and praise with them. We come away with joy in the heart and thanks on our lips.

Psalm 42:1-2 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

In his flights from Saul and his enemies, David felt alone and separated from God. In the desert he was empty and dry. He was cut off from the Tabernacle of God’s Presence on earth. He desperately wanted to be there where God was. His soul (mind, will, and emotions) was panting and thirsting for God, the living God, to be in the presence of God.

In our own lives, while wandering through the desert of this world, we also pant for living water and thirst for God. We desperately want to come to the temple where God dwells on earth, which is our body, and have the emptiness filled and the dryness refreshed. St, Augustine said that in the soul of every man is a God-shaped vacuum that can only be filled by God, The Holy Spirit through the gospel fills that vacuum and quenches the thirst. But in our wanderings we leak, so we go to church weekly and come before the Lord daily. He, and nothing and no one else, fills and refills the emptiness within. We no longer pant, for the living God is here.

Psalm 41:10 But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

David is facing evil enemies, disease, and betrayal, and in his need he prays to the Lord that He would be merciful to him and raise him up, thereby saving him from the enemies of sin, death, and the devil.

During this life, we, too, frequently come under attack from our spiritual enemies that make us feel weak, guilty, and scared. But the mercy of God is shown to us in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Because of Christ, by grace, through faith, He grants mercy to us. The blood of Jesus is the mercy of God. We remember who Jesus is and what He did for us, and we plead the blood in Jesus’ name. By faith we receive mercy and apply it to our present need and particular situation. Such mercy is near to us and always available to us.

Psalm 41:4 I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul: for I have sinned against thee

David prays for mercy and healing. He feels in a bad way and knows he needs help. He admits that it is his own sin that has diseased his soul, and he believes God for mercy and grace to heal him and make him whole. He knows that he cannot help himself, but he knows God can.

We also experience hardship and troubles in life, but what we don’t always know is that my soul is broken because “I have sinned.” So we confess our sins, repent of them, and believe Jesus for forgiveness and healing. We could blame others or blame God. We could look to other sources for help. We could try to heal ourself. But no, we look for, and trust in, God to be merciful and to heal our diseased soul. Thank God, through Christ He does.

Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

Our response to the grace and generosity of God is to consider the poor. We give generously to those in need because He

has gifted us with abundant grace and riches. God has mercy on the poor and needy, and He uses us to give. We become instruments of God’s mercy and grace; the Lord uses us to grace others with His blessing. As we are forgiven, so we forgive; and as we are given, so we give.

The promise to those who consider the poor is that they will be blessed. God loves a cheerful giver. The Lord promises that He will deliver him in time of trouble, when he needs God’s help and salvation. “Though he (Jesus) was rich, yet he became poor that ye through his poverty might become rich.” The Gospel blesses us with all the riches of God in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 40:16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

We respond to the Lord by seeking Him for every good thing, for He is always good. And when we do we rejoice and are glad for He is our only good and our only God. We love God and His great salvation. Praise to God becomes a continual way of life. We magnify the Lord in our minds to make Him bigger to us than we can imagine, although we cannot make Him as big as He already is in His glory.

We are happy all the time, no matter the circumstances around us and the feelings within us, and we can always rejoice in the Lord, for He is always there and He is always great. He is greater than the earthly problems and enemies we deal with. We continually magnify the Lord. We make Him bigger than we think He is. Praising the Lord continually brings joy and gladness. Praise is the best antidote for depression, sadness, guilt, and anger. Die daily and rise with Him every morning.