Daily Devotional

I was raised in a California coastal community called Santa Cruz, a town that was nicknamed Surf City U.S.A. (along with Huntington Beach). I spent many of my days, body surfing at the river mouth of the San Lorenzo River next to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

The waves there were famous for their power and form as well as the way they came in sets—one after the other—making it difficult to catch a breath. During winter, the giant waves were often “pounders” that drove the bodysurfers to the ocean floor and held us down. The only way to know which way was up or down was to watch the bubbles rise and the sand sink. It was all very disorienting and frightening. So it can be in our spiritual lives.

In Psalm 42 an unknown psalmist is lamenting his life and his twisted perception that God was trying to pound him to the ocean floor like a rogue wave.
 Psalm 42:7 “Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.” 

And he felt the pain deeply:
Psalm 42:3 “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Psalm 42:5 “Why are you in despair, O my soul?” 

Yet, he didn’t stay swamped. Look at his plan to rise to the surface:
Psalm 42:11 “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” 

Notice the progression of his change of heart:

1. He talks to himself honestly.
   “And why have you become disturbed within me?” (i.e., “Maybe I am blaming the wrong person for my troubles.”).
   
   
2. He chooses to believe what he knows to be true, regardless of his feelings
   “Hope in God…” (i.e., “I believe waiting is a form of worship.”)
   
   
3. He expects to praise God no matter what happens.
   “I shall yet praise Him…” (i.e., “I am having a hard time praising now but I will soon.”)
   
   
4. He declares his faith in the One God who turns his inward peace to visible joy.                         “…the help of my countenance”  (i.e., “You will change my demeanor.”)  “…my God.”  (i.e., “You will never leave me to drown in my troubles.”)
   1 Kings 8:57 “May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us)

Though waves of trouble come in sets, we will keep surfacing and swimming safely to shore. In the word popularized in the surfing culture to express extreme joy: Cowabunga!

New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation