Dark Providences – Psalm 43

Psalm 42 & 43 are a matching set. They are bound by adjacent location in the Psalter as well as by theme and the chorus/refrain: “Why are you cast down, O my soul.... Hope in God...”. Dark providences are those ominous valleys of death's shadow that serve our Lord's mysterious, yet glorious and sovereign purposes toward His own. Never were rod and staff so comforting to our Psalmist than in those chapters of life where he realized he needed them most. With compounding poetic flourish, the author of Ps 43 continues to recount his experience of holy separation anxiety. Here he dips his pen in the inkwell of outstanding redemption to illustrate the dark providences of psychological uncertainty. Never mind the mere feelings of desperate anguish saturating the desolate soul. Never-mind the unpredictable dangers of circumstantial uncertainty. The greatest banishment of the human heart lies in legal condemnation. The Psalmist cannot bear the thought of being saddled with the sacrifice deserving of his own sin... “I must get to the altar of God at all costs!” He cries.