There is a natural longing in our soul to be with the Lord. Sin and all the distractions of modern life seek to dull that desire, but it is still there in every person. When the Spirit works in our lives one of the things He does is to heighten that desire.
In Adam and Eve sin produced a desire to hide from God. The Holy Spirit produces a desire to seek earnestly after God. One of the ways in which He often does this is through suffering. Suffering and difficult times cause us to realise the futility and poverty of worldly things, and seek the Lord instead, sometimes in desperation.
The Psalmist remembers a time when he used to go joyfully to the temple, but now he experiences only depression. He is surprised that his soul is like this, and cannot understand it. He instructs his soul to trust in the Lord, hoping that days of praise will come again. I am sure we can all identify with these sentiments.
"I will remember ..." The places mentioned probably indicate a place of exile. It seems that the Lord is overwhelming him with sadness, but "deep calls to deep". In the midst of suffering come some of the deepest and most heartfelt cries to God.
See the contrast between verse 8 and 9. In verse 8 he states that the Lord looks after him, then in the next verse he bewails the fact that God seems to have forgotten him. The conflicting emotions we go through are part of life and part of the process of drawing closer to God.
In the midst of this depression he still believes that a day will come when he will praise the Lord with joy again.
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