Psalm 43: Fighting Discouragement

Discouragement has a way of making you feel like a tagalong in your own life, like you’re an afterthought to everyone else’s story. Psalm 43 meets that feeling head-on, and we walk through it line by line with a simple goal: give you language to bring your heaviness to God and the courage to fight back with hope.

We talk about why many scholars see Psalm 43 as a “P.S.” to Psalm 42, and why that matters when your soul feels dry and your heart feels sad. The psalmist doesn’t hide his struggle. He asks God to defend him, admits the grief, and then makes one of the most important moves you can make in a hard season: “Send out your light and your truth. Let them guide me.” We dig into what that looks like in real life, from prayer that tells the truth to worship that re-centers your joy.

We also name the trap that discouragement sets: isolation. When you want to pull away from people, routines, and even God, Psalm 43 pushes you to run toward God instead. The chapter ends with a decision that can steady your whole day: “I will put my hope in God. I will praise Him again.” If you need Christian encouragement, practical biblical hope, and a short Psalm that hits deep, this one is for you.

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Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Psalm

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Psalm chapter 43, and today's title is Fighting Discouragement. Fighting Discouragement.

Why Psalm 43 Feels Like A P.S.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Have you ever been in one of these things? And this is getting to be a lost art, but back in the day, we used to write letters back and forth. Nowadays we barely write emails back and forth. It's you know it's FaceTime and text messaging. But back in the day, we're writing a letter to somebody and we were almost done. And we go, oh man, I've already signed my name at the bottom, but I had one more thing I wanted to say. We would we would put PS, which meant postscript, which basically was like one more thing. We add one more thing to the bottom of the letter, and then we would move on, right? Well, that's what Psalm 43 actually is, is most scholars believe it is an addition onto Psalm 42. And that sounds just like how people feel when they're dealing with discouragement. Like, well, I guess I'm just a tag along, right? So it's perfect that that would be the way this Psalm would go. And so if you've ever felt discouraged, but you don't want to give in to discouragement, you want to fight it, but you need language to tell God, help a man out with some discouragement. Today's all for you.

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SPEAKER_01 1:37

So if you got your Bibles and open up with me to Psalm chapter 43, while you were doing that, make sure you take just a moment, like, share, and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star view on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And you can get all that information by going to thebiblebreakdown.com.

Psalms As A Soundtrack For Life

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Well, if you've been with us over the past several days, we are walking through what we are calling a soundtrack for life. It's the book of Psalms, and it's actually five song books of the kind of the song of the heart of the people of God, as they are writing songs on how they're relating to God from the time of Moses all the way to the time of Malachi. And we are now in book two of these five books. And many of these are written by the sons of Korah. And the sons of Korah would have written these books way late, more toward the Malachi stage of the timeline. And they are most of the time that they're right, they're in exile. And we talked about yesterday, it was Psalm chapter 42, and it was all about this deal of what do you do when your soul feels dry? Well, one of the reasons why our soul feels dry sometimes is because we're dealing with discouragement. And like I said, many scholars think that Psalm 43 is just an addition onto Psalm 42. And the answer to Psalm 42 was when your soul feels dry, there's practical steps to take. But the number one thing is to put your hope in God because He wants to be close to you more than you want to be close to Him. Well, today in Psalm 43, it's an oh by the way, God, I'm also feeling discouraged. So let's read this together and see what God's

Reading Psalm 43 Aloud

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Word will say to us. Here we go, Psalm 43, verse 1 says this Declare me innocent, O God. Defend me against these ungodly people, rescue me from these unjust liars. For you are God, you are my only safe haven. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies? Send out your light and your truth. Let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God. Oh my God, you are you are the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my heart. Oh God, my God. Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God. I will praise Him again, my Savior and my God.

How To Respond To Discouragement

SPEAKER_01 4:27

So yesterday we were talking about what do I do when I feel dry? Today it's what do I do when I feel discouraged? And guess what the answer was? The same one. Put my hope in God. In today's chapter, it was talking about the idea of when you are feeling discouraged. First of all, you get honest with God. He was saying, God, declare me innocent. Defend me against these people. You're the only one that can help me. So he's crying out to God, and then he is saying, God, I'm going to worship you because you are my only hope. When you get discouraged, most people have a tendency to want to isolate. They have a tendency to want to draw away from people, from friends, hobbies, good things, and then also from God. But God's word teaches us when we feel discouraged is not a time to isolate from God. It's a time to run to God and to not put our hope in people, but to put our hope in God and praise Him and realize that victory is on the way. Troubles don't last always. If you're not dead, God's not done. And so we trust in Him

Prayer For Hope And Strength

SPEAKER_01 5:39

and all things. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that when we get discouraged, we have hope. We're not like some people who just have to walk around and just wait for another day. But in this day, we can bring to you all of our discouragement, all of our dryness, all of our difficulty. And Lord, you don't turn us away, but you lean in to us and you help us. Help us today. Encourage our soul as we put our hope in you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Closing Verse And Tomorrow’s Psalm

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Well, God's word says in Psalm 34, verse 1. Say it with me. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Psalm chapter 44.