Psalm 43 appears to be a continuation or companion to Psalm 42, as it uses some of the same phrases (compare Ps. 43:2 to Ps. 42:9, and 43:5 to 42:5). Despite the hardships faced, the psalmist encourages his soul to hope in God. He longingly remembers the days of leading a multitude of people in worshipping God (Ps. 42:4), and expects the day will come again when we worship at the altar of God with exceedingly great joy (Ps. 43:4).
O Lord, these are fitting psalms for us to pray amidst the season of the coronavirus crisis. We remember the “glory days” of months ago when we were able to gather together in one place to worship you and experience fellowship with you in a tangible way. That’s been diminished by being apart, and experiencing technical difficulties, and a host of other challenges. Yet in Psalms 42 and 43, we see a model of hope amidst hardship, leading to prayer and perseverance, and even foretastes of joy. We have joy now, because we see all that you have planned for us. We will join together with other believers again, and we will experience the joy of worshipping you again. One day, we will say goodbye to goodbyes and enjoy fellowship forever with you and our fellow believers.
Lord, amidst the protests and violence and disunity of the past weeks, we pray: increasingly make us one in Christ. We look forward not only to the day where we will gather together again with the people we’ve been accustomed to worshipping beside (our church family), but we will be worship together with your entire family. On that great day, believers from every nation and tongue will worship together, live together, and serve one another in brotherly love. We pray, Father, let your kingdom come on earth. May we enjoy this foretaste of heaven: that the diversity of the races will lead not to senses of superiority, but to the celebration of your creativity. May we rejoice not that people are like us, as if we were the standard of what is right, but that every person is made in your image and reflects some of your goodness. May we learn to see and savor the goodness of God in each person, of every race, kindred, and tribe, more and more. We pray in the name of Jesus, the King of all the nations, who died to make us all one family. Amen.
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