Bishop Emeritus Gordon Wong shares about Psalms 42-43 as a guide to how we should pray to God when we are in the deep dark valleys of life. Firstly, Psalm 42:1-5 talks about spiritual dryness and the Psalmist yearning for God, who seems to be very far from him and his struggles. Secondly, Psalm 42:6-11 talks about how the Psalmist feels drowned by sorrow and forgotten by God, yet he deliberately turns to memory and truth. By day, God commands his steadfast love, and in the night, his song is with him. Lastly, Psalms 43:1-5 talks about how he laments to God that he feels deserted, holding both his confidence and his confusion before God at once.
This honest prayer of lamenting to God in this Psalm serves as a lesson to us that even as we struggle in our lives, we can still lament to God and be in communion with Him, as compared to turning away from God. The call to action from this sermon is to keep praying for God’s light and truth even in the difficult situations of life.