The Wisdom Journey
Stephen Davey shares practical and relevant lessons through the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation, in just 10-minute each weekday. The Wisdom Journey will help you understand the truth of God’s Word and apply that truth to your life. Subscribe and learn to know God, think biblically and live wisely.
The Wisdom Journey
Dry Seasons and Discouraging Times (Psalms 42–44)
When life turns upside down and prayers seem to echo in silence, where do you place your hope? We journey through Psalms 42–44 to face spiritual drought with honest words and a steady heart, exploring how ancient songs teach modern souls to trust and wait. We begin with the raw confession of a downcast spirit—tears by day and night, a mind rattled by inner turmoil, and the piercing question, “Where is your God?” Instead of hiding the pain, we learn to pray it. The sons of Korah invite us into a maskil—a teaching psalm—that trains our hearts to thirst for the living God like a deer searching deep ravines for hidden streams. The refrain becomes the anchor: hope in God means trust and wait, even when the water is not yet visible.
We then widen the lens to see how praise works before circumstances shift. “I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” is not denial; it is identity. By anchoring praise in God’s character rather than quick outcomes, we discover how spiritual resilience grows in dry seasons. Psalm 44 extends the theme to a national story: Israel’s failures, discipline, and mockery do not equal abandonment. Drawing on Paul’s insight in Romans 8, we press into a crucial truth—tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, and danger are not signs that God has walked away. Suffering may be the soil where faithful love takes deeper root.
Along the way, we share practical ways to keep moving when the heart feels heavy: name the sorrow without shame, return to the refrain of hope, attach praise to God’s person, and remember the witness of those who walked this road before us. And yes, sing through tears. Those songs, shaped by waiting, often become the strongest witnesses to God’s steady presence.
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There are all kinds of circumstances that can bring turmoil into your life. I'm confident that you know exactly what I'm talking about. You've probably experienced your share of turmoil, but you mustn't let your circumstances rob you of the sure and eternal hope that is yours. That hope belongs to everyone who knows God as Savior. This is the wonderful reminder of Psalms 42 through 44. Stephen's lesson today is called Dry Seasons and Discouraging Times.
SPEAKER_01:One of the invitations you receive whenever you open the book of Psalms is to honestly and openly pour out your heart to the Lord. No matter your mood or emotion, whether it's fearfulness or confidence, the Lord is ready and waiting to hear. Now these next Psalms do just that, as the author writes here in Psalm 42, now here in verse 3, My tears have been my food day and night. Further down in verse 5, he admits my soul is cast down within me. Well, this is the honest admission of a believer. Now before we get any farther, let me point out that this psalm begins book two of the five books of Psalms, which have been combined in our Bibles into one book. It's widely believed that this psalm here, Psalm 42, is the opening psalm of Book 2 and was originally part of Psalm 43. In fact, Psalm 43 is going to repeat two verses from Psalm 42, word for word. Now the superscription or the heading here in Psalm 42 calls this psalm a maskil. That's a Hebrew word that tells us that this is a teaching psalm. It's been arranged. It's for the classroom. We're also told here that the authors, the teachers, are the sons of Korah. The sons of Korah were Levites with a rather tragic past. Korah had led a rebellion against Moses, and God moved in and judged him along with all the other conspirators, and they were put to death, there in Numbers chapter 16. The sons of Korah themselves weren't a part of their father's rebellion. Evidently, they remained faithful assistants to the priests there in the tabernacle. And their descendants are described back in 1 Chronicles chapter 6 and verse 31 as among the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark rested there. By the way, that's a good reminder. That's an encouragement for you to remember. Godly parents might have ungodly children, and ungodly parents might have children who grow up to walk with God. And the sons of Korah did just that. In spite of their father's failure, they grew up to walk with God. Some of the best known verses in this second book of Psalms appears here in the opening verses of Psalm 42. As a deer pants for flowing streams. You could render that as a deer pants for the water. So my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. By the way, back to that expression of flowing streams, that describes the deepest water channel in a valley or in a gorge or ravine. In the drier parts of Israel, these brooks uh weren't easy to find, and they didn't always contain water, so a a deer might have this agonizing search for these brooks of water. So the psalmist is is using this search as a picture for the thirsty soul longing after God. In fact, throughout Psalms 42 and 43, God doesn't seem to show up. He doesn't seem to answer the psalmist's cry for that water. The thirsty soul seems to remain parched and even endures verbal attacks of unbelievers while he's thirsty. Psalm 42 and verse 10 reads, As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? You know something. When trouble comes and our prayers don't seem to be answered, and we're in this dry season of life, we tend to agree with our accusers. We even ask the question, where is God? Well, God hadn't gone anywhere. Just because God is silent doesn't mean he's absent, but it sure does uh feel like it at times, doesn't it? Again, this is honest admission of emotion as the psalmist is pouring out his heart to God. Now, in spite of uh his raw emotion, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, end with the same exact reminder, and I gotta tell you, this is a great statement of faith for somebody today, maybe that's you, with a troubled soul, a parched spirit. Listen to this declaration of faith. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? The Hebrew word translated cast down means to sink down or depress, to be depressed. You ever had that sinking feeling, that depressed feeling that comes from problems in your life? Have you ever experienced uh uh that dry season when your soul is parched with spiritual uh thirst? You ever felt that way down deep in your soul? Well, join the crowd. Your feelings just got included in inspired scripture. Imagine that. Now that isn't all. The psalmist adds here that there is turmoil within me. The word turmoil refers to a loud uproar. In other words, everything in your life is just turned upside down. It's it's it's like an earthquake has just upset your world. A tornado has roared into your life. So what do you do about it? Well, look, let's follow this example. Let's be honest with how we're feeling. Admit that sinking and depressing feeling, that sense that uh you're spiritually dry. Pasting on a smile isn't gonna do you or anybody else any good. But now get ready for this. What the psalmist says next is the core principle in these teaching psalms. They're teaching us how to respond here. In verse 11, again in verse uh five of chapter 43, he makes a powerful statement of faith that his hope is going to remain in God. To hope in God, in the Hebrew Bible, by the way, means to trust him and then wait for him. Now that isn't easy, but it is a big part of the solution. Trusting and waiting. It's easier said than done, but that's what it means to hope in God. You're trusting him and you're waiting on him. And what's the psalmist hoping for exactly? Well, he tells us as these two psalms end the exact same way. Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. In other words, that earthquake that just tumbled into your world and turned everything upside down, that isn't anything to shout hallelujah about. That's not what he's saying. He's praising God for his salvation. The fact that he says here that God is my God. You see, that personal conviction that he is your God and your salvation is how you find hope in God. So these two Psalms are teaching us that God can be praised because he's praiseworthy, even if the perfect timing of his responses is making us wait, doesn't exactly match our desires. And let me tell you, circumstances might not change as you declare your faith in him, but your hearts do. As we acknowledge his saving grace in our lives, our trust is sort of converted into spiritual growth, especially in the dry seasons and discouraging times. Well, now here in Psalm 44, this hope in the Lord takes on a something of a national significance. It's a reminder that the nation Israel has endured dry seasons, trying times, times when it doesn't seem like God is coming to their rescue. In fact, this psalm makes it clear that the nation has been disobedient to the Lord, that his discipline of them has been uh well deserved. Verses 9 through 18 here basically review the history of Israel as foretold back in Deuteronomy chapter 28. In fact, the psalmist alludes to Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 37 here in verse 14, when he he says, You have made us, that is the nation Israel, a byword among the nations, a laughing stock among the peoples. Now, Israel's repentance isn't recorded here in Psalm 44, and that's because it already happened. The Lord has already forgiven them, and he certainly has not abandoned them. By the way, the Apostle Paul quotes this psalm over in Romans chapter 8 to support the idea that suffering happens to be common in believers' lives, and it isn't proof that God has forgotten you. It doesn't mean God has forsaken you. In fact, just the opposite is true according to Paul. He goes through this long list over in chapter 8 in Romans, and he assures us that even when we suffer tribulation and distress and persecution or famine, nakedness, danger, uh, the sword, and on and on. None of that is proof the Lord has forgotten you or forsaken you as one of his chosen people. So suffering, that doesn't mean you've been abandoned by God. You know what it might mean? It might mean you're standing up for God. And I can tell you, if you are following the Lord and your hope is in him, as David writes, suffering means that you're going to be growing up as a child of God. So these teaching psalms here are encouraging us to make our own personal declaration of faith that we will trust the Lord and we will wait for the Lord. And we're going to sing as we go along. Now we might be singing through tears. The lyrics of these psalms in dry seasons and in discouraging times might be spotted with tears. But we will say this: I will hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. Well, until our next journey, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davey. To learn more about us and access all of our Bible teaching resources, visit wisdomonline.org. Our phone number is 866-482-4253. And you can email us at info at wisdomonline.org. Stephen developed this daily program to help you know what the Bible says, understand what it means, and apply it to your life. So please join us next time to continue the wisdom journey.