When life is hard
Depression
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The psalmist does not scold himself out of sorrow, and he does not pretend it away either. He questions his soul honestly and then speaks truth to it. The word yet carries the whole verse: praise is not what he feels now, it is what he expects on the other side, and he says so while still in the dark.
A prayer from this passage
God, my soul is heavy and I will not hide it from You. Be the health of my countenance. Where I cannot feel Your goodness, hold me by it, and let me say with the psalmist that I shall yet praise You.
Key truth
The Bible gives the downcast believer permission to be honest and a reason to keep hoping in God.
Related Scriptures
- 1 Kings 19:4-9 God feeds and lets Elijah sleep before He corrects him.
- Lamentations 3:19-24 Grief remembered, then mercy that is new each morning.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 Paul despairing of life, and what the despair taught him.
Continue your study
Full question studies on depression
Deep chapter studies to read next
A topic is best learned inside a chapter. These are the full studies published so far.
- Genesis 4 Cain and Abel: the first murder and the heart behind it.
- Genesis 22: The Mountain Where God Revealed the Gospel Obedience, substitution, and the first Father who gave a son
- Psalm 1: The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked Two ways, two influences, two outcomes
- Psalm 23: The LORD Our Shepherd The Shepherd who never leaves His people
Pray and study this with others
- Share a prayer request on this Believers here pray for one another by name.
- Prayer resources Scripture-shaped prayers and a private prayer journal.
- Ask Audela AI about depression Answers that quote Scripture and show their working.
- Join the Daily Study plan One chapter study a day, keyed to the verse of the day.
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