“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
- Ps 119:8

The assumption is that if you are not serving God, you are serving something else. If you are not a slave to the spiritual authority of God, you are under the spiritual authority of something else already. The opposite of Christianity isn’t atheism. It’s Idolatry.

Euripides, the greek tragedy writer:

“No one is truly free, they are a slave to wealth, fortune, the law, or other people restraining them from acting according to their will.”

What is astounding here is this Psalmist is NOT saying, I gave up my freedom to serve you, he says, I now walk at liberty because I sought your precepts. I’m free BECAUSE I’m your servant. I used to be a slave to fear. Because there were certain things I thought I had to have. I used to be a slave to resentment, because I thought there were certain things I had to have. I used to be a slave to guilt. I could never measure up. But now that you are my master, nothing else masters me. Now that I serve you, nothing else orders me around. I can come and I can go. I have choices – finally!

Here’s the point: Freedom is not a lack of restrictions. Freedom is finding the right restrictions. Restrictions that fit your being.

Ps 42:5 – Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

The Psalmist was far away from his home (south) on the other side of the country (north) on some remote mountain top called Mt. Mizar.

It’s interesting how in his ‘thirst’ for God he addressed his soul first before addressing God. And notice how he address his soul.

1. He listens to his soul. Asked his soul WHY. He pours out his soul. And only then does he…
2. Tell his soul to HOPE

Pour out your soul. Give your soul a chance to speak. Listen to it. You say, “I don’t feel like there is anything there to pour out?” Then fine – talk about that. If nothing else, talk to God about how you are getting nothing out of it. If nothing else, talk to God about how much you miss him, or how much you don’t miss him. If nothing else, talk to the absent God about his absence. Give your soul a chance to speak to you before you speak to it.

This is self-examination at a profound level, which allows the psalmist to see the things that he puts his hopes in, which are not going to be able to sustain his soul unless he hopes in God.