OPPRESSION-DEPRESSION
OBSERVATION: THE BOOK OF PSALMS IS A COLLECTION OF 150 POEMS WRITTEN BY VARIOUS AUTHORS THROUGHOUT ISRAEL’S HISTORY. DAVID PENNED HALF OF THE PSALMS, OTHER WRITERS THE REMAINDER. YOU FIND MANY EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION IN THE PSALM. WHATEVER THE EMOTIONAL CONDITION YOU FIND IN THE BOOK YOU FIND EXISTING TODAY! WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY DEFINES OPPRESSION AS CRUEL RESTRICTIONS, TO TREAT WITH UNJUST SEVERITY, TO SUBDUE OR WEIGHT DOWN, A HEAVY LOAD. WEBSTER DEFINES DEPRESSION AS DEJECTED, DISPIRITED, PRESSED DOWN. DAVID EXPERIENCED ALL OF THESE EMOTIONS WHEN HE WROTE THIS PSALM. PSALMS 43 SPEAKS TO DAVID’S TIME OF TROUBLE.
INTERPRETATION: PSALMS 43:2 (NKJV) FOR YOU ARE THE GOD OF MY STRENGTH; WHY DO YOU CAST ME OFF? WHY DO I GO MOURNING BECAUSE OF THE OPPRESSION OF THE ENEMY?
POINTS TO PONDER:
ABSALOM (FATHER OF PEACE) WAS DAVID’S THIRD SON BY MAACHAH. HE ATTEMPTED TO KILL HIS FATHER AND TAKE OVER THE THRONE IN JERUSALEM. FEARING HIS SON, DAVID FLED TO ISRAEL, THE NORTHERN KINGDOM, AND SOUGHT ASYLUM. STRANGELY ENOUGH, THE FATHER OF PEACE WAS ANYTHING BUT PEACEFUL.
THE LANGUAGE DAVID EXPRESSED WAS ANXIOUS INQUIRY, SENSING HIS LONELINESS, AND OPPRESSION OF HIS ENEMY. SCHOLARS DIFFER ON WHO THE OPPRESSORS WERE. PSALMS 22:1 AND 42: 9 TOUCH ON THE SAME THEME. HIS LOATHING WAS REAL. DAVID LONGED FOR GOD’S PRESENCE.
OBVIOUSLY, DAVID HAD A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD PREVIOUSLY OR HE WOULD NOT HAVE ADDRESSED THE PROBLEM OF OPPRESSION-DEPRESSION.
APPLICATION: BELIEVERS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO LIFE ISSUES AND ASK “WHY ME” WHEN THEY COME YOUR WAY. WHEN THEY DO COME, CAST YOUR CARES UPON HIM (1 PETER 5: 6-7).
