Today's Daily Bread

PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD

Date : Wednesday, July 01, 2026
Passage : Psalm 42:1~11
Keyverse : 11  
1
[For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.] As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
3
My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
4
These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.
5
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
6
My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon - from Mount Mizar.
7
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
8
By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life.
9
I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"
10
My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
11
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
The psalmist illustrates what Jesus meant when he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). God’s greatest commandment emphasizes a holistic, total-being devotion to him. These terms—heart, soul, mind, strength--are not necessarily strict, separate entities, but represent different, overlapping facets of human existence.

The psalmist’s heart and soul go through waves of high and low emotions. his soul’s thirst for God is like a deer panting for streams of water. He groans over unbelievers’ taunt, “Where is your God?” and tears well up in him. He says to God, “Why have you forgotten me?” his soul is downcast and disturbed within him, and he feels mortal agony even in his bones.

Amid the turmoil of his heart and soul, the psalmist resists the temptation to despair and exerts himself: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (5,11). He remembers God’s grace in his protection, love, and joy (4,8), and tells himself to put hope in him (11).

Prayer: Father, my heart and soul can be downcast living amongst unbelievers. Help me always remember your grace that I may live a joyful and victorious Christian life. Amen.
One Word: Put your hope in God