Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. —Psalm 42:11
Whenever we encounter difficulties, most of us are prone to look to temporary or earthly solutions. The result is usually just a Band-Aid on whatever is wrong, but in the long run it won’t truly be our deliverance.
Psalms 42–43 tell us to put our hope in God—a phrase that’s repeated three times throughout the passage. But we tend to first hope in our friends, our spouse, our health, our anxiety meds, or our therapist. However, if our hope is in anything or anyone other than God Himself, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment.
It doesn’t mean friends are wrong or that there may not be a situation in life where medication might help deal with some physical symptoms. But the issues the psalmist deals with in this passage—doubt, depression, and anxiety—are ultimately issues of the spirit. There is no friend, mate, circumstance, medication, or counselor who can be for you and do for you what God wants to do. His face is your ultimate hope and help.
Make it Personal
Ask God to examine your heart to reveal if you’re putting your hope in anything other than Him.