When Things Are Not Fine
Finding Hope Through Honest Faith
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. — Psalm 42:5
I will never forget the season when I learned about my autoimmune health condition.
I knew something was wrong long before I admitted it. I felt terrible. My body was telling me one thing while I was telling everyone around me something completely different. People would ask if I was okay, and without hesitation, I would say I was fine. It was the easiest answer. The expected answer. The one who kept the conversation moving and the concern at a comfortable distance.
But I was far from fine.
It was not until I finally stopped saying I was fine and admitted the truth that anything began to change. I saw the doctor. I got the answers I needed. And a journey began that has shaped my life in ways I could not have anticipated. The turning point was not the diagnosis. It was the honesty that led me there.
The psalmist understands something about that kind of honesty.
Psalm 42 is not a cheerful song. It is the writing of someone who is genuinely struggling. Cast down. Disquieted. Unsettled in a way that is hard to put into words. And rather than pretend otherwise, the psalmist does something remarkable, he speaks directly to his own soul and names what he is feeling.
Why art thou cast down?
There is no performance here. No attempt to appear more spiritually composed than he actually is. He is simply being honest about where he is. And it is in that honesty that he finds his way back. He does not stay in despair. He points his soul toward hope. Toward God. Toward the confidence that praise will come again, even when it feels impossibly far away.
Depression and discouragement have a way of convincing us that what we feel is permanent. That the heaviness will not lift. That God is distant or disinterested in what we are carrying. But the psalmist pushes back against that lie, not by denying the struggle, but by refusing to let the struggle have the final word.
If you are not fine today, you do not have to pretend otherwise. Not before people, and certainly not before God. He already knows. And He is not waiting for you to get yourself together before He draws near. He meets us in the honest moments, not the polished ones.
Speak to your soul today the way the psalmist did. Acknowledge where you are. And then point yourself, gently and deliberately, back toward the God who has not moved.
The praise will come again. Even if it does not feel that way right now.
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About Another Well Ministries
Another Well Ministries exists to help people slow down, listen deeply, and encounter God in the ordinary places of life. Through devotionals, reflections, and spiritual resources, we seek to create space for faith to be formed with honesty, grace, and hope.
To learn more about the heart of the ministry or explore additional resources, visit anotherwell.org.
God bless you Jared.